Bane's Lullaby
by Narrie
Summary: When Rayna is presented with Bane, she did not see him for the monster most saw him to be. As Rayna starts to construct the mask that would soon cover his entire face, he starts to see Talia for the monster she is and decides that she is no longer worthy of his protection and that she is no longer the innocent child from the prison but he soon decides to protect another. Bane/OC
1. Chapter 1

**I just watched TDKR again in theaters and I can't help but make a Bane fic. I don't know if I will continue it, it all really depends on the response I get from this little preview. A lot of this story will be pre-Christopher Nolan's trilogy and will eventually go into batman begins and end with the dark knight rises(most likely)**

Chapter One

My father and sister walked through the entrance of the training room, where I awaited their arrival back from their mission. "I am happy you two safely return." I said as I bowed to them. My father smiled at me but my sister just scowled in disgust.

Talia was always careful to make sure nobody saw the hatred she had for me. Our father had me stay with him, unlike his other children, because my mother died giving birth to me and it was rumored that he had truly loved my mother; I was his youngest and last child. Talia resented this part of my life, hated the fact that she was not special, that the great Ra's al Ghul did not love her mother as he did mine.

When I was young she never tortured me like she did now, she hated my existence but was hell bent on ignoring the fact that I was alive and constantly in her presence. She had never spoken my name until I was 6 and she was 10. I was a smart child and I had started to translate the league's moto into different languages, writing them on parchment and scrolls for each member to have with them and in the language that was most familiar to them.

"RAYNA!" She had yelled at me before I was about to walk into another room to hand out more parchment. I smiled at her and walked over to her, awkward with the large basket I had to carry.

"Don't worry sister, I made one for you too." I grinned widely, proud that I did not forget her. I grabbed the parchment that was rolled up with the pretty red ribbon around it; I had known that red was her favorite color and I wanted her to know that she was special to me.

Even though my sister never spoke to me or even looked in my general direction, I had still loved her unconditionally at that time. I would open doors for her, clean her plate, I would do anything for her to notice me, to acknowledge my existence and to know that even though she didn't like me, that she hated me, if she ever wanted to try to care for me that I was there…waiting and willing.

She had grabbed the parchment out of my hands and quickly slapped me with it. My hand grazed my cheek as I felt it start to get sore. "You IDIOT! Why would you write it in their own language? Their life before this is meaningless. You know that and they do, so what use is it to remind them of home?" Tears started to fill my eyes, I didn't know why she yelled at me. I understood now, looking back at the time; it was plain for anyone to see.

Talia's fears had come true, I was smart and talented in my own ways and she could no longer ignore me anymore. I was accepted among everyone, I was adored for my loving and caring nature, something that was foreign and lost among most of these men. Unlike Talia, I have the ability to be compassionate with many people around me, to empathize with another, to love and care unconditionally. As she noticed this more and more, she hated me and then despised me and then I eventually became her enemy. She would torture me, cut me, burn me whenever she could. Talia tried, many nights, to break my spirit, to make me hate the world that she hated but I never could.

That has been our relationship over the past 13 years. I am now 19 and the doctor for the league. My father never let me be an assassin, and for good reasons. I was no killer, I did not enjoy pain or suffering; my father knew that for me to kill a person, I would have to die first. Instead he had many professor's come and teach me sciences and mathematics, he trained the only weapon I had and was willing to use freely; my mind.

I am considered to be one of the most intelligent people on the planet, I.Q. wise. I had never left my home, never traveled to distant lands with my father as my sister loved to do. I was always scared at how easily Talia would be able to kill me if I was not in the safety of this home. So I never knew how I matched up with the geniuses of this world in practice, but something told me I was close.

"Come Rayna, we have a guest we would like you to have a look at. His name is Bane." My father spoke to me as we walked through the room and into my office which had a working table in the middle of the room.

"Do not hurt him sister, he is dear to me." I heard the threat in her voice, the lingering tone that told me she would kill me if I harmed this man. Before I could say anything I heard more men walk into the room behind us. I turned around and saw them carrying a man who's face was bandaged. They lowered him onto the table but dropped him half an inch from the surface, I heard his painful groan.

"Careful! Do you not see what kind of shape this man is in? Have you no respect?" The men said nothing but left the room quickly. "Father…" He started nodding and turned to leave the room, already knowing what I was going to ask of him.

"That means you too, Talia." Ra's al Ghul said to his other daughter, extending his arm and moving his fingers, creating a motion to beckon her towards him. She turned to me and walked forward slightly, pinching me hard on my thigh and then she joined our father.

Sighing from the pain, I slowly started to unwrap the bandages from Bane's face but his hand quickly grabbed my arm, gripping it tightly, I could feel his overpowering strength. "Please, you're hurting me. I'm only here to help, trust me." I felt my bones almost bend at his grip but he suddenly released me as his head slammed down onto the table and he started to seize.

I knew trying to get restraints on a man of his size would be impossible so I quickly tried to get all of the sharp or possibly harmful objects to a seizing man away from him until he stopped. He suddenly stopped moving entirely, I stared at his chest as I walked toward him but I didn't see it rise. Quickly I unwrapped the bandages from his head so I could see his lips and nose.

I started pounding on his chest, knowing that I was both too short and too weak to try doing it the old fashion way. I began blowing air into his lugs but before I started to beat on his chest again, Bane started to gasp for air. I let out a small cheer, happy that he was alive. Quickly I covered his mouth with an oxygen mask, but making sure it did not touch his skin. I met his deep brown eyes and smiled. "Welcome back." I said with a cheeky grin.

His eyes smiled first at me but he quickly grimaced at the pain of moving his lips. "We have to do something about that. Hold this okay? Can you do that for me Bane?" His hand moved up and grabbed the mask, allowing me to look around for something I could give him for the pain. I found a bag used for a drip and I grabbed it; my instincts told me that this would not be an over night fix.

I walked up to Bane and showed him what I brought with me. "It's a Morphine drip. I will start you on a smaller amount and we can go up if the pain is still too much. You're around people now, you should be able to talk." I smiled as I sat down on my chair and rolled over to his free arm. Holding it delicately, I rested it on my lap. "At least, I want to be able to talk to you." I said quietly, almost in a hushed tone. I watched his fingers twitch slightly as I inserted the drip into his arm.

He flexed his arm and tried to move it back to the table but I grabbed his arm and pulled it back to my lap. "You will rest like this until I know the morphine has taken effect. Since you can't tell me, I will just have to be able to tell myself." I looked down at his arm and inspected it. I slowly ran my fingers over all the scars he had covering his arm.

"How did you get these? Wait…" I said almost instantaneously, I started the laugh. "You can't talk. This is going to be a very one sided conversation, won't it?" I laughed at the situation and I saw his chest move at a faster pace and I knew he was laughing with me. "Well at least I cause you amusement." Smiling, I looked down at his arm and I saw his fingers were finally fully relaxed and free, I knew that the drug had taken effect.

"All done!" I said and I patted my hand against his. He raised his arm away from mine, making it obvious to me that he easily could have taken his arm away from me at anytime but kept it there anyways.

**Hope everyone likes the idea I have for this fic and liked reading this preview. Please follow or review or send me a private message if you want, and tell me what you think. Tell me if there are things wrong with the idea or things that could be fixed. If I get enough people wanting another chapter, I will write one but I still need to write chapters for my other stories for my other readers :)  
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**As always, thank you for taking the time to read my story :D  
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**Narrie  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Holy! The response for this story is crazy and I legit did a happy dance for every favorite, follow and review. I made sure to make this chapter a longer one because the last chapter was just a preview so I appologize for the time it took to write but I hope from all my editing that it is a proper follow up and that you are just as excited to read the next chapter as all of you were to read this one.**

**With that enjoy the next chapter and thank you again for all of your positive responses! :D  
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Story: Bane's Lullaby

Chapter Two

My sister barged into my office while Bane was sleeping. I was sitting in my chair, next to my desk. "Is he fixed yet? He has been in here for weeks." She demanded. I sighed and shook my head.

"Talia, it has been eight days and it will take longer than that. I have his treatment on it's way here, it should arrive tomorrow, but then I have to wait for his scars and face have to heal first before I can even think of how I can stop his constant pain and agony." Her eyes narrowed as she heard the compassion in my voice.

"He is mine." She spat, venomous like a snake. "He saved me when I was in the pit, he is my protector. He saved me because it would bring them salvation, because I am pure." Talia stared me down; I could see her chest rising faster as she got angrier and more defensive with me. "He belongs to me and I to him." She said slowly, drawing out every word as if it was a threat.

I smirked at her, "You would never be able to bring someone salvation, you could not rinse another's hands when yours are just as filthy, if not more. My dear sister, you are far from the innocent and pure." She smiled at me, rocking her shoulders back and forth. She always did this when she knew that she had won a fight.

"Yet you are the only one to know that." She slapped me across the face, forcing my body to slam into my desk, knocking the wind out of me. "Stay away from him. This is just a warning." She bent beside Bane, holding his hand dearly and talking to him in the voice she put on to sound sweet and kind like the rest of us, hiding her true self. I raised my hand to my cheek and felt the warm liquid of my own blood.

Looking in the mirror I could see the cut my sister had been so kind to give me, running along my entire cheek. _I will have to tell father it's a paper cut…_ I sighed, hoping that my lie would be able to pass by my father. I watched as my sister left my office, leaving me alone to continue designing the contraption that would be able to keep Bane in a state where he could function.

I heard him moan and I quickly grabbed a squirt bottle with water in it before rolling over to him. I instinctually grabbed his forearm, reassuring him that it was me who was here with him. "Open your mouth slightly and I can give you some water." I heard him groan again as he opened his mouth wide enough so I could fit the thin nozzle of the bottle between his lips.

Slowly I squeezed it once, then again and again. I watched his throat move as he gulped the water down. Before I noticed, the bottle was empty and I was blowing air into his mouth. "Sorry!" I exclaimed as I removed the nozzle. "You can relax your jaw again. Do you feel any pain?" He raised 2 fingers, which meant no.

Since Bane couldn't talk because his face was still healing, I had created a system that used his fingers for simple communications. 1 finger meant yes, 2 meant no, 3 meant sometimes and 4 meant he didn't care, an important option that became apparent to me later on. I also started to teach him basic sign language, which he caught onto pretty fast. I knew that within a few days he would practically be fluent in the language.

"I am glad to hear. Are you comfortable?" 1 finger. "Can I bring you anything?" 2 fingers. I smiled at him. "I never thought I would be able to communicate so well with someone who can only tell me four things." I laughed but he waved his hand.

"I can sign too." He signed to me, which made me laugh.

"But you are not fluent in sign language, so I do not consider it a reliable way to communicate with you Bane." I signed to him but he just shook his head and I let out another small laugh. "Exactly." We sat in silence for a bit, him staring at me as I stared at his forearm, the one that I always rested my hand on when I came up to him. I sat, thinking of how it would feel to have those arms wrap around me, to hold me but my sister showed up in my mind's eye as well, killing the happy thoughts I had.

"How does our guest fair, Rayna?" I heard my father's voice behind me. Instantly I stood and turned to look at him, seeing that he was alone, I relaxed. It was one of the downsides to having your father be the leader of The League of Shadows, he could never show compassion in front of his men; it would make him seem weak and I understood that. Still, everyone knew that he loved his daughters and would personally kill anyone who harmed us.

He frowned as he looked at me. "What happened to your face?" He quickly glanced at Bane but I corrected my father before he thought wrongly of the harmless man that lay in the patient bed.

"It's just a paper cut father, I promise," quickly I changed the subject back to his original question, "but Bane is doing a lot better." I said as I smiled. I knew my father would be proud of my success with Bane's recovery. "He is able to sleep and function without feeling the pain, thanks to the morphine drip. Thankfully he's quite a…large man?" My face twisted as I tried to think of the best way to describe Bane, to describe his mass. I heard my father clear his throat so I quickly continued.

"He's learnt how to sign. He isn't fluent but he will get there soon with practice." I smiled at Bane as I glanced over at him, watching me intently as he usually did. "We've established a way to communicate for his needs though, which is great. Bane isn't able to speak while his face is healing, well he can but I won't let him." My father raised his eyebrows at me. "I told him that if he was to recover then he had to trust me. I am the league's doctor, father. I treat all my patients as if they are family."

I felt familiar hands rest on my shoulders, I looked up and met my father's kind gaze and loving smile. "I know you do, that is what I love about you so much. You are compassionate and caring, just as your mother was." He paused for a moment; sighing outwardly. "You remind me of her more and more each day." He squeezed my shoulders and walked towards Bane.

"My daughter Talia wishes me to let you into the League of Shadows. She says that you are worthy and that you would be a glorious assassin." My father was Ra's al Ghul now, the leader of the league and one of the most deadly men on this earth, but to my surprise I watched Bane as he matched Ra's stare. "Are you worthy? You cannot even speak, you let a girl order you around, you do not walk…just lay in a bed, allowing yourself to become weak."

My father was challenging him and I knew it, I could tell Bane caught onto it quick as well. His eyes had narrowed as Ra's questioned his actions, something I could see he was not fond of people doing. He ripped the needle out of his arm and swung his feet around his bed. Slowly, he stood up on his two feet before Ra's, standing slightly above my father; which was intimidating on it's own.

"I do not speak because it would hinder my recovery. I do not move around so I can conserve my energy to regenerating my body. I take the morphine so I may sleep and let my recovery quicken. The faster I recover, the faster I can become an assassin and fight for you. So yes, I will not speak, I will let a girl order me around and I will lay in a bed until I am back to my full strength." His voice was deep and husky, rough and uncut. Imperfect in the most enticing way and it left me wanting to hear him speak more.

"Very well. I will have my daughter inform me when that is." Ra's turned from him and walked towards the door, quickly glancing at me and smiling before he left. Once I heard the door shut I ran to Bane who I could see was weak in the knees. I grabbed his arm but he ripped it away.

Hands on my hips, I stood in front of him. "Damn your pride Bane. I would rather get you on the bed when you're standing then when you're on the floor. Would you want me to have to call in your future brothers to help me pick you up off of the floor because you collapsed?" He just started at me, slightly shaking. "I didn't think so." I muttered as I grabbed his hand one more time.

As I laid him down on his bed, I saw he was smiling. His lips were in the shape of a perfect curve, full and almost inviting. "So that's you mad?" He asked smiling. I scowled at him as he closed his mouth, but his chest was rising rapidly. It was his own way of telling me that he wasn't talking anymore but that I still amused him.

I grabbed the needle and replaced it quickly, knowing that Bane would need a release from his pain soon. Even though he was good at hiding it, I could see it in the way his muscles tensed; they would contract in an almost rippling effect. I could see him relax as I put the needle in, more of a physiological relaxation since his body now knows the pain will be gone soon. I once again placed my hand on my forearm. I looked up at him to see him smile for a second time.

In silence once more, I sat beside him reading a science book about chemicals, more specifically about how to properly vaporize them. I was working on designing him a mask, one that would also hide the horrible scarring that will be left from his unattended wounds that were so carelessly bandaged up and then never cleaned after that. It was a miracle that his flesh wasn't gone or decayed. I shuddered at the thought. I heard Bane move but I ignored him, he often moved in his sleep. It was when his large hand came over my book and dragged it down till he could look at me, did I know that I couldn't ignore him.

" H. M E. M O R E." He spelled out the words since he didn't know the actions for them. I knew he could do the action for 'me' but it was easier to spell it out once you started to spell in sign. First I showed him the motion he would use for 'teach' and then 'more' before I answered his request.

"Sign me the word and I will teach you the motion." He nodded and quickly started spelling out words. We did this for hours until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Bane insisted I go to bed; his eyes pierced mine until I obeyed, so I went to sleep in the second patient's bed. Knowing he was still in what most doctor's would consider critical condition, even though Bane being the specimen that he was which made it easier for him to handle, I still wanted to be close to him just in case something went wrong.

That night, as I closed my eyes, I dreamt of the first man I had ever loved. His name was Riju and he came to be an assassin for my father. He was tall and strong with fair features, a true beauty among men. I was 17 and he had been 20, a young man to join the league.

From a young age, I had seen the effect I had on the men who came here to follow my father. They came from corrupt worlds, from broken homes or no home at all. Most were hell-bent on revenge, on seeking out those who condemned them to this life, and the others were here because they simply enjoyed killing others. Yet when they saw me, sweet and innocent me, it was something that was new and intriguing to them, I was the forbidden fruit of Eden.

Riju was no different. He would praise me for my kindness, saying that he was unable to understand why I can be who I am in such a decrepit world. I would always smile and tell him it was because he made me forget there was another world. We would meet in secret, late at night or in my office but eventually my sister found out and then it was over before I could react.

The next day Riju was out on a mission with my sister that lasted weeks. When they came back, he pronounced his love for her and asked my father if he would be able to have the honor of her hand. I was beyond crushed, I felt betrayed and the worst part was I couldn't show it. My sister watched me, smiling as I was forced to watch Riju take on my father in combat and come to defeat within moments, loosing his life with his defeat. It was after that day that I truly hated my sister, a feeling I never thought I could have for another.

The next morning I woke up to see Bane's bed empty. I leaped onto the floor and ran for the door. "Bane?" I called out, the panic in my voice apparent. I opened the sliding doors that lead to the training room attached to my office and I saw Bane, with one arm gripping the stand that his morphine drip was attached to, which he also used to help support himself, while he walked around in the room.

"You're going against doctor's orders." I said blankly, crossing my arms. He ignored me. "Well at least leave the door open next time so I don't have a panic attack." Bane stopped moving and looked at me as he heard the bite to my tone.

"I have upset you again? Maybe you aren't as well tempered as you like to believe." I turned around on my heels and walked into my office, slamming the doors behind me. _He's right but he forgets that I'm an Al Ghul, and I have to be like them in some way…_

I sat reading my book as I heard Bane's harsh grunts and movements from the other room. An hour passed before he walked back into the office. "I think I am healed." He stated.

"Well if you know better then me, be on your merry way." I couldn't help but be vicious. I may be kind and caring, be able to have compassion for many but I still had the Al Ghul anger, which was hard to tame once it was unleashed. I heard him laugh, which just made me angrier.

"I did not keep the door open because I did not want to wake you. I will keep the door open from now on." I heard him walk over to his bed and sit down, his bed creaking under his mass. The silence grew between us and filled the room, but it was not like our usual silence that was comfortable and pleasant; this silence was unsettling and full of tension. "I am sorry if I have upset you." He said to me minutes after he sat down, but I shook my head.

"You do not need to apologize Bane. I should, and I'm sorry. I acted cross when I shouldn't have; you were just using your muscles, as you should. Let me see your face and how the scars are healing." His eyes followed me as I rolled up to him on my chair, steady and watching.

I ran my fingers over his face, making sure to not touch his still healing scars. "They will be fully healed in a few days with your medicine that will be arriving today. I will have to start reading more then." I pushed away from him and sat at my desk once more. "I don't think I can teach you anymore sign language but you're fluent enough. What is your native tongue Bane?" I heard him chuckle at my question.

"Fear." He simply stated, a smile in his tone. "But I am fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Latin if that is the answer you were looking for." I didn't understand his first answer, why his honest reaction was to say fear.

"Why fear?" I asked, disregarding the fact that he did answer my original question.

"I grew up in that prison. I lived out the sentence my father should have, I was condemned to that pit and have lived there my whole life until I came here. Fear is what I know, it is what I live and strive to instill in others." He was speaking in a tone I had not heard before; his disposition was tall and strong. I couldn't help but laugh.

"You do that well enough Bane."

"But I do not frighten you." He stressed the word 'you' making it sound almost like a question. I looked at him as he asked what was, in my opinion, a redundant question.

"I thought you were smart Bane. It would be obvious to almost anyone that if I was scared of you, then you wouldn't be here talking to me. You would have died because I was too petrified to come close and to operate on you. But what most people forget is when you are weak, on the edge between life and death, people will drop their guard and let go of their mask." He smiled as his eyes lit up.

"I do not wear a mask though, Rayna." I laughed outright, not being able to stop myself. I quickly clapped a hand over my mouth but I continued to laugh into my hand. "I amuse you?"

"No, just the fact that you can pick up sign language in a few days yet you can't accept the fact that everyone has a mask. We all have something to hide, something to protect. It could be our past, someone we care about or even our true self, but in my experience, having seen much death in my lifetime…it's always those moments when someone doesn't know if they will live much longer that they are who they truly want to be, who they truly are. And you, Bane, were calm and kind. You listened to me and watched me closely. I did not see the menace you want to be, the fear you strive to instill in others. To me, I will never see you as that." He did not blink as he stared at me in silence, his eyes tense and unknowing, but I just smiled.

"Think about it Bane. In the mean time, I will read and you can sit there and try to instill fear in me." I lightly chuckled as I turned to face my book.

"I could kill you. It would be like snapping a twig, and I would not hesitate." He was right behind me, breathing onto my neck. Fear was something that rarely visited me, because of my sister I was always expecting the worst, expecting someone around the corner with a knife or a gun, I expected that someone was always trying to kill me.

I turned around in my chair to face the man who threatened me. "You could, but you wont. Even if my sister, the woman whom you love," I saw a small twitch in the corner of his eyes as I said those words but I didn't pause to give it anymore thought, "ordered you to do it, you would have issues to loyalty. Hearing my sister talk about the pit, the prison, constantly throughout my life has given me the advantage of knowing the kind of life that you had lived. She had talked about you before, how you saved her and attacked all of those men while she climbed to safety." My gaze was still on his face, not leaving his eyes.

"You are a man who pays his dues, if someone helps you out significantly then you, in your mind, will owe them. I saved your life Bane, more than once since you've been here. I kept you alive, fed, hydrated…more than you can say for my sister even though she got you out of the pit, but that was my sister paying back her debt. I grew up around criminal's Bane, around killers and mercenaries not as deadly as you but do not forget that I am Rayna Al Ghul, daughter of Ra's Al Ghul and I am smarter than you will ever be, and an army at my disposal. Even you couldn't defeat an entire army of men."

He smiled at me and took one step closer, his chest against mine; he stood there staring at me, breathing steadily. It took all of my will to not lean against him and close my eyes, allowing myself that moment of escape, a moment of bliss. Instead I looked right back at him, my face stern and set. "You are a very hard to read, little one…"

"Do not belittle me. I may be short but that doesn't make me little." Bane smiled and shook his head.

"And you are now taking everything as an insult." There was a threat to his tone, something I recognized easily. "You may know criminal's but I am not a criminal, not like most so I will let you think that you understand me and I will continue to watch you until I understand you." I scowled at him and turned back around to look at my book once more. I heard him lightly laugh as he walked back to his bed. _Something tells me he finds it amusing when I'm angry…great…_

We sat in silence as I read the last few pages of my book; closing my eyes I tried to picture Bane's face covered by the mask. "It can't cover his eyes." I muttered to myself as I hunched my torso over my desk. Grabbing some plain pieces of paper and a pencil, I started to sketch concept idea's as to what I had to create.

Behind me I heard Bane, who had been walking around the room while I read; the only sound was his steady breathing and rhythm of his feet hitting the floor. "What cannot cover my eyes?" I turned over the paper and looked up at the man who towered over me once more, but he wasn't trying to intimidate me this time. "May I see?" He asked, extending an open hand. Reluctantly I handed him the paper that was now a rough sketch of Bane's face.

His brow furrowed as he looked at the drawing. "I haven't drawn the mask. You will need it to give you a constant supply of morphine to your body, you can't carry around that thing," I pointed at his Morphine pouch, "and still expect to be scary."

"You do not draw my scars." He stated, handing back my drawing. I stared at the sheet and noticed I hadn't, that instead I drew him as I saw him, what he would have looked like without the scarring that covered most of his face.

"I guess I don't see them like most do. I see scars and wounds all the time, I obviously just subconsciously fill in the blanks." I smiled as I stared at the drawing one last time, my eyes lingering on his drawn lips.

My sister barged into the room, carrying a small parcel in her hands. "It has arrived…" her voice slowly trailing off as she saw Bane, standing beside me. She tossed me the medicine carelessly; I stretched to grab it, almost missing. "You are better." She said, walking up to him and hugging his torso. Slowly he wrapped his arms around her and I felt an anger slowly burn in my stomach.

Taking advantage of the fact that my sister was distracted, as I would be if I was in Bane's arms, I attempted to hide the drawing I had done of Bane but it didn't work "What's that my sweet sister?" She asked while walking over to me.

I vigorously shook my head, "It's nothing, I promise." She reached around me and grabbed the sheet despite my effort. I quickly glanced at Bane and he was watching me, his eyes black as the pit he had come from. I saw my sister's expression harden as she saw what I had drawn. Lowering the paper so she could look me in the eyes, I saw the stare I had seen years before. It was like Riju all over again.

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**I hope that chapter was up to par and that you all enjoyed it! Let me know what you think about the story so far, if you like the direction it's going or if you think something should happen. I am a very open person to suggestions and I never disregard them so I encourage people to be honest and give me as much feedback as possible! It's like I'm addicted xD**

**Thanks again for reading! It's means a lot that you take the time out of your day to read it ^^  
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**Narrie**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry I didn't upload earlier today but my laptop died right as I got to work and I forgot my charger at home, so I had to wait till after work to upload Dx  
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**I was a tad apprehensive about some of the parts I wrote in this chapter, Bane can be a very difficult character to write when he isn't being a menace or playing his fun mind games but I hope I did it well. *Crosses fingers*.  
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**Also, I cannot express how much I love hearing from all of you and how amazing it is to hear people's reviews or to see that this story has been favorited or is being followed by so many people. It's insane! So again, I will always thank those who encourage me to continue this story, it's for you that I write :D  
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Chapter Three

I stared at the paper in my sister's hand, trying to think of a proper excuse as to why I would draw Bane and with such perfection, without his scars. "She is making my mask, but I asked her to see the design before she made it. Why draw the scars when she will have to erase them moments later?" Bane's voice had reason behind it, and as I watched my sister's face slowly relax, I knew that his words had convinced her.

"Very well." She turned back to Bane, placing her hands over his ears. "We will be able to be together soon my love. Until then I will have to leave you in the incapable hands on my sister. I am sorry to give you such a weak person to take care of you." She placed a hand on his shoulder and I felt my chest start to slowly rise and fall, feeling the anger grow, starting in my stomach and ending at the tip on my lungs. Wanting to scream at her, to belittle her as she has my whole life, to make her feel like the nothing she deserved to be.

I felt Bane's cold eyes on me, doleful and uninterested. "She does well." He simply stated and then he looked back at Talia. "I will be better soon, but the more I rest the faster I recover."

"I know." She nodded once and smiled, something I rarely saw her do when it didn't follow with pain. "I will go then, you take your treatment and come to me soon." She made sure to give me one last long stare before she left the room, leaving me alone with Bane, something I wasn't excited to do at the moment.

Bane didn't move, he just stood and watched me, with his eyes steady as always. "What?" I asked sharply. "Trying to analyze me, see why I am upset or pissed of?" I was mocking him and he knew but he, oddly, ignored it.

"Would you like me to show your sister that I am fond of your company? That I allow you to teach me your knowledge willingly? I know Talia, she doesn't like others playing with the things she cares for." _God, I hate him right now_.

"You don't know Talia…" I muttered. He just crossed his arms and I heard his breathing become heavy. "Don't cross your arms, it will cut off your morphine supply." I silently cursed by inability to stay mad at a patient, once their well being was compromised in the slightest way, I dropped all anger I held and worried about them.

I relaxed as he unfolded his arms. "What do I not know about her?" He asked simply. Grabbing a chair he dragged it closer to him, and sat down. Sitting, I stared at him not knowing how to answer. He acted like he cared for her but when she isn't here, he is different…I had no idea if I should be telling this man the truth or tell him the lie I tell the others.

"You are a smart man Bane, I do not doubt that. Eventually you will see Talia's true colors, the real person that she is. The person she has never feared to show me." My voice grew darker with each word, eventually I sounded hollow and empty, like my soul was missing, like I was a broken person.

I had grown to tolerate my sister's actions in silence, but that does not mean I never feared her. She never held back her disdain, her disgust for me. I was nothing in her eyes, I was a nameless creature that lived in the halls of her house. She beat me bloody if she had the chance, leaving me in my own blood when we would be alone for days without supervision; luckily I learnt early to stay near people.

I knew that nobody knew this version of her, maybe on a milder level but she kept all her hatred and all of her fear for me. "You refuse to fear me, yet you fear your sister?" I closed my eyes and smiled at the richness to his voice. Hints of confusion and of amusement, taunting to get a rise out of me.

"You do not understand—"

"Then enlighten me." He opened his arms, as if to say that was the only option I had. He was being stubborn, part of me admired that and the other wanted to slap the smug smile off of his face.

"Why should I? You like the evil side of things, the creatures that can set fear so deep into others that they feel it in their bones. Those are the people who interest you, the type of person my sister is. So why waste my breath explaining that to you?" I glared at him as he smiled once more with his eyes.

"You are wasting your breath now." I was done with his smugness, his assured sense that he had control over me. I sat up straight and looked at him through still eyes and he stared back.

"I will no longer waste words on you then, but you will not stop my wrath. You are a repugnant human being and I cant believe I wasted the time out of my day to care for you, to treat your wounds and to make sure you were alive. I wasted my energy fretting over you. I now know why so many see you as a monster." Each word I signed, each movement I made had the force of a punch behind it. My hands were a blur of vigorous motions but I knew Bane followed every movement I made.

"So that is why you fear your sister." He stood up and walked over to me, taking small and slow steps, which for a tall man like Bane meant the difference between taking 2 or 4 steps. He grabbed the underside of my chin with his right hand, slowly pulling me to my feet. "You fear that she will see your feelings for me."

I felt the blush come to my cheeks as he looked at me, his eyes dancing like they never had before. "You fear my touch," he slowly wrapped his left arm around my waist, "you fear my attention," his right hand ran through my hair, "you fear that I will feel the same for you." His fingers traced my jaw line as his eyes ran over my face. I looked at him, too shocked for words as his thumb pressed against my lower lip.

"So what do we do if those fears of yours come true?" He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. I felt my body go limp slightly, my knees wanting to give out on me. The thing I had dreamt about, fantasized about, and wanting every time I was close to Bane, was finally happening. I pressed my body closer to his, forcing our lips together; my hands wrapped around his neck, holding it tightly, losing myself in the kiss.

We both heard movement in the training room and I quickly stepped back from him, slipping out from his grip. He looked at me and smiled with his eyes. Turning around I grabbed the balm that I had shipped here for Bane and when I turned back to look at the man, he quickly signed me a message. "Do not underestimate my ability to observe others." I smiled and unwrapped the package I held in my hands.

"It's a balm, it will be cool at touch and may feel weird to have on your face and scars but the longer you keep it on the faster you will heal." I was reaching up to his face as the doors opened and one of the league members presented themselves. His arm was broken and the bone was sticking out of his forearm.

"Shit." I said as I placed the balm in Bane's hand. "Set that down on the desk and help me carry him to the table." I left no room for argument, Bane did as I asked and was quickly by my side, grabbing the man and letting him down onto the table gently. "Thank you." I said to Bane as he stood back, giving me space to work.

"What happened?" I asked the man, more to keep him thinking and conscious, I could clearly see who had broken his arm.

"Talia wanted to spar and I missed the block." I smiled at the man. When he smiled back I quickly set his bones back into place and his back arched with pain but he did not yell, like a true brother of the league. I quickly started to clean and prep the wound for stitching.

"She does that if you don't block properly." I passed him a damp cloth so he could wipe his forehead with it. "I'm going to stitch the wound now. Tell me about a recent mission you went on. It will keep you mind off of it." The man nodded as I grabbed the needle.

"I was in Gotham City lately. Horrible place, covered with crime." He grimaced as the needle went into his skin and I heard Bane shift behind me. "Some mobster is running the show there right now, has his hands in," he grunted as I pulled his skin together, "every part of the city, or is starting to at least."

"Sound's like a lovely place to be." I said with sarcasm to my voice. I heard Bane smile behind me, which made me smile too. Unfortunately, the man on the table did not catch my sarcasm.

"It is a horrible place ran by fear of those who are more powerful, the more wealthy." I looked at the man and shook my head.

"I am told that is what the whole world is like outside of here." I smiled as I spoke of the memory of when my father telling me to never leave the safety of our home, trying to scare me. I finished making a splint out of wooden sticks and bandages. "You will be okay, brother. Go on your way now and take this." I handed him some tea bags. "It will help with the pain and help you sleep." He nodded at me and glanced at Bane before leaving my office.

I went to the sink to wash my hands and I felt Bane follow me, and eventually press his chest against my back, lowering his face next to my ear. "Are you always so compassionate with your patients?" I smiled as I felt his breath on my ear; it was warm and pleasant. "and to think, I thought I was special." I turned around and placed my hands on his neck.

"You are." I whispered to him, looking at his lips but then I flicked my gazed up to look him in the eyes. They were moving with amusement and desire. He fiercely kissed me, a small moan leaving his lips as they touched mine. Reluctantly I pulled my face away from his, I saw his brow furrow but I diverted my gaze from his face.

"Bane, I—" his lips pressing against mine again, cutting off my words; I smiled against the mouth I had grown to crave. He pressed against me, bending my back over the sink. His hand pressed against the small of my back, effortlessly holding me against him. He pulled his face away from me but stopped an inch away, his eyes still dancing.

"Do not worry about your sister." I kissed him swiftly and then patted his shoulder, smiling at him. He knew what I meant; he understood my back would hurt after being bent in that position for a while. "I will act like nothing has changed, I will make her believe that it is her I am to protect. I always new Talia would bring me salvation, I just always thought it would be her, not another." His eyes pierced mine as our eyes locked together.

I raised my hand and rested it against Bane's cheek, my focus switching between each of his eyes. "You are not like any other I have ever met Bane." He smiled and looked amused as my eyes studied him, my hands tracing over his face.

"You must contain this when your sister is around." I took my hand off of his face and my head slowly slanted to the side. _Why was he telling me this…_He looked at me with his brow furrowed once more, a face he made when he was either displeased or confused.

"Rayna, I am your protector now, you are my innocence in this world and the thing to bring us all salvation. I will protect you from your sister; she will not harm you anymore. But to do that you must pretend that you do not care for me in front of her, you must lie." My eyebrows pressed together, I never liked the idea of lying. I believed in being brutally honest, I saw no reason to hide my ideals or what I felt.

"I will try, but I can't promise anything." Bane nodded in a simple way and then straightened up.

"That is all I could ask for." He sounded smug, obviously making fun of me. I scowled at him and then shooed him out of my office, I needed to think and he needed to train. I started to sketch masks on blank sheets of paper, after I drew 5 or 6 masks that were horrible concepts, I stopped and closed my eyes. I had to think of what Bane would want.

The word 'fear' ran through my mind. Bane wanted to intimidate people, to seem vicious and menacing to the others who did not see him in the light I did, which happened to be almost every other person in this world. My pencil hovered over my paper as I thought about fear, about \what caused fear in others.

Quickly I sketched the first idea that came to mind. I drew the mouth first; it would mimic teeth and remind people of the jaws of a predator. I made sure his eyes were still visible, Bane always captured me with his eyes; they were powerful and he knew how to use them to create emotions in others.

I felt Bane enter the room even though I didn't hear his footsteps; he was getting better. "Damnit!" I cursed my stupidity as I searched for the balm I was to be using on Bane. Finding it, I turned to look at my patient who was standing still, awaiting me. I saw him slightly grimace as I put the balm on. "I'm sorry, it stings at the beginning."

I blew on it and I saw him relax, his scars already gave him enough pain and I knew the balm just made it worse. I continued to put more on and then blow on it, I couldn't help but smile for the majority of the time. It was an odd way to treat someone, yet I enjoyed it. Once it was all applied, I took a step back. "All done." I quickly turned and grabbed my piece of paper with my sketch of his mask. I handed it to him willingly, "what do you think?"

He scanned the paper and simply nodded and handed the paper back to me. "I approve." I yanked the sheet from him and barely kept myself from glaring at him.

"You are aware this will be on your face for the rest of your life right? All you're going to say is that I have your stamp of approval?" There was impatience to my tone, which I knew was the cause for Bane's smile.

He opened his mouth but quickly closed it, pausing to think of what to say, "Yes." He simply stated and I let out a growl, giving up on him I closed my eyes to contain my anger. I heard him laugh and my eyes darted open and looked at him. He loved making me lose my composure, to make me angry.

"I will kill you one day. You frustrate me beyond belief!" Bane smiled at me, amused.

"I would like to see you try." His smugness had come back, something I realized would be coming back with his health. He was the leader of the prison he used to be in, at least that's what intelligence told me when he had arrived. He was used to being in power, to have reign over people. I smiled.

"You aren't the leader of the league Bane. I may not be able to kill people myself but I have others who would do my bidding in moments, without asking a single question."

"Ahh, I see." He walked towards me. "You have others do your dirty work?" I laughed.

"Bane, you haven't seen me try to kill a chicken. I can't even do that, what makes you think I could take another human's life or even command someone to do the same?" He looked at me with steady eyes, a slight curve to the corner of him mouth.

"You would be surprised what you are capable of Rayna, when the ones you care about are in harms way. I just don't think you have cared about someone or something enough to put yourself between them and death." For the first time, I felt the slight fear he gave others. It was the way he talked about death, as if it was always following us, awaiting it's moment to pounce and cover us in its shroud.

"Yes, but you would also be surprised at how many people are too petrified with fear to move, as they watch that person they care about die in front of their eyes. Sometimes, there just isn't anything you can do." I knew I sounded sullen, like there was emptiness to my voice, but I couldn't help it as I saw Riju dying on the ground in front of me as I did nothing in my minds eye. Bane didn't say anything, just stood over me, watching.

"Then they did not care enough." I glared at him and shoved my hands against his chest, something he obviously wasn't expecting since I actually caused him to stagger backwards. I walked over to a closet that was in my office. I grabbed a fresh league suit and shoved it against Bane's chest.

"Get dressed, I'm going to talk to my father. You're obviously ready to become a league member if your ready to stand in the line of fire for those you care about. He will be training you while I prepare your mask." I slammed the door behind me, hearing a loud snap. Turning around I saw that I had cracked the frame and in the small space between the sliding door and the broken frame, I saw Bane, silently laughing at me.

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**So yeah, I hope you enjoyed it X| I have the next few days off so expect another chapter or two before then :D Depends on how critical I feel about my work. haha.  
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**Thanks again for reading and supporting the story! Keep the feedback and reviews coming! They're my bread and butter for writing, I love hearing feedback in any form it comes in, even following this story shows me that I'm doing something right!  
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**Much love! 3  
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**Narrie  
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	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, another chapter! I personally really like this one, it shows more of what secrets Rayna has and I hope you enjoy a chapter that is more focused around her, but don't worry. Bane always has a way of coming back around ;)**

**I also want to thank Miss Ashlynn and CompletelyOrganic for bringing it to my attention that I didn't really give reason for how Bane acted last chapter and I forget that I make decisions for Bane in this story BUT since it's from Rayna's perspective, it isn't always cleear so Thank you for bringing to my attention and I encourage others to do that same. If you don't understand why someone does something in my stories or you want more clarification on something. Put it in a review or a PM and I will reply as soon as I can, honestly. :)  
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**Lastly before you read this fic, I want you all to know that you are all amazing and lovely people for all the kind words you have shared with me and how you are all superb people that I love writing for! So I will cut my rant short and allow you to read :D Enjoy!  
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Chapter Four

I steadied my breath before knocking on my father's door. "Ra's al Ghul, may I have an audience with you?" I always had to be careful with how I addressed my father, if there is ever a possibility that another league member is near him, I wouldn't dare call him 'father'. I heard footsteps in the room; I could only count one pair just by listening. The doors swung open and my father greeted me in a simple robe.

"My daughter can have an audience with me any day." He smiled, which caused me to smile too. I loved the moments when him and I could sit and talk, almost as if the league never existed, like we were normal. I sighed as I thought about a normal life, how nice it would be but also how boring. "What bother's you so much that you sigh before giving your father a hug?"

The door to his room was closed, he didn't have to hold back the love and affection he had for his daughters. I quickly squeezed his torso and then sat down. His eyes followed me as I found a comfortable spot leaning against a wall. I closed my eyes and rocked my head back, I only truly felt comfortable and safe with my father, he's been the only sanctuary I've had growing up. "Rayna?" His voice was drawn out and I could hear the concern dripping from his words. I had to talk; he wouldn't let me leave if I didn't.

"Bane is ready to become a league member. Start training him, I will have his mask completed in a week and then he can go on his first mission." Ra's just watched me in silence as I just glared at him. "Stop that. Bane does that enough, I don't need it from you." He smiled and shook his head.

"Why are you angry?" _What kind of question was that?_ I felt the familiar presence of rage growing in the pit of my stomach, I had to quickly remind myself that it was my father I was talking to, anger didn't work on him so well.

"When he becomes a league member, he will stop coming back. I have gotten used to his almost constant company. And his missions—"

"Will be with Talia." My father cut me off, I stared at him as tears started to fill my eyes, the fear I had been holding back was surfacing. I bit my lip, hoping it would prevent my inevitable breakdown. I saw him grimace as he walked over to me and hugged me.

"It is not your fault you want to cry Rayna. It is not a dishonor, weep silently if you must." His hand ran up and down my back as he treated me like I was a child again, upset because Talia had taken a toy, or had been mean to me or because I simply didn't understand why she ignored me. It was always my father I ran to crying, making sure the tears never fell till I was in this room with him. Once I had calmed down he leaned against the same wall I had my back to. "You know, I once cried, almost hysterically, in front of my men." I couldn't help but laugh.

"You don't have to lie to make me feel better, father." I smiled at him but his face was sad, his eyes lost in a memory.

"It is no lie. It was with your mother, I held her limp body in my arms and prayed to every higher being to bring her back, that if there was any hope left in this world that it would bring her back to me…but it didn't and I knew it. I wept for what seemed like hours, my men stood there and watched in silence. They never mention it, never judged me or thought less of me for it either and do you know why?"

He gave me a moment to think about it, I grew up in the league so I knew it was out of character for brothers to watch someone cry and if it were their leader, they would see them un-fit to lead. There is the factor that anyone who would second-guess my father's leadership would soon have their head dismembered from their body, but if enough people thought it… "My head hurts." I rubbed my temples as the layers of thoughts and 'what-if's' ran through my head, one right after the other. I heard my father laugh slightly before continuing.

"Because even though we are sworn to the league, we are still human. We still have the ability to love, to show compassion. Some more than others, but my men saw the love I had for your mother, they knew the loss I felt because they felt it too. Your mother," he paused, searching for the words to describe her, much like I did when I thought of how to describe Bane to my father, "was beyond incredible. She was brilliant, witty, kind and compassionate. Everyone here loved her and cared for her, we all felt a loss that day." I sat in silence and looked at the floor. It wasn't often my father talked about my mother. She was almost forbidden ground to speak of between my father never bringing her up and Talia hating the idea of her.

"You tell me all of this so I can feel justified to cry?" I was confused why he went into such great detail about my mother, causing me not only to think of her but think of what life could have been like if I had her still with me.

I often dreamt about it, about a life outside of the league. I could have applied my mind to heal people, help them in their times of need. I could have been a happy housewife to a handsome and wealthy man. I could have had an easy life, but somehow I felt something or someone holding me to this reality, anchoring me.

"I tell you, so that you understand it is normal to fear the loss of those you care about. To fear that they won't be there tomorrow, to have that unsettling feeling that they are slowly slipping away from you. I saw you anguish over the loss of Riju, Rayna. In silence because you thought you could not say anything, but for Bane, you will have to fight your sister. That much I know." I watched my father with still eyes, not knowing what to say.

For the first time in my life, my words had failed me. I opened and closed my mouth multiple times, hoping that words would just flow out like they usually did but I felt my mind almost go into shock. He knew about Riju, he knows about Bane but he is telling me to fight for him? "Go now, I will go and talk to Bane, start to train him."

I knew a dismissal when I heard it. I nodded quickly and left the room but I didn't care to go back to Bane and my office. I needed to clear my head and there was only one place I could do that. I climbed onto the roof that hung over the balcony. All there was to see was a cascade of white-capped mountains, covering the horizon. It was truly breathtaking and nobody ever came up here. It was a place I went when I needed to get away, when I needed to clear my mind and sort my thoughts. The only person who knows I go here is my father.

I smiled as I thought of my father but my smile soon faded as heavy thoughts bore down on me. I put my head between my knees and closed my eyes, groaning. Bane. I saw his face, the way he looked at me, and the ways his eyes danced. _But why?_ The though dragged on in my mind. Why did I care about him so much, why did I let him hold me like that, and why did he want to?

Why did he so easily admit to wanting to be my protector, why would be throw away the love my sister always talked about so fast and almost carelessly. Bane didn't strike me as a person who made quick decisions or snap judgments, he was more levelheaded then that; always watching, always observing. I guess he wouldn't miss anything that went on between my sister and I since he's been here, but has that been enough? I didn't understand, I couldn't see the Bane that I had observed over the past week and a bit, do something so rash.

I felt a headache come on, my temples started to throb as I tried to search for the reason why Bane kissed me that way. I slowly exhaled as I opened my eyes, looking out at the mountains again; with that one breath I cleared my mind. My headache slowly faded away, as I sat silently on the rooftop, thoughtless.

Later, I felt my body stiffen. I rested my back against the roof, stretching my body as I gazed up at the stars. _It's nighttime…shit I was meditating for awhile_. I started to get up but I halted as I heard a large grunt and then saw Bane pull himself onto the roof effortlessly. I groaned as I sluggishly fell back against the roof. "Why are you here, Bane?" I was annoyed and aggravated, and I made no effort to hide it from him.

"Am I not welcome?" He had a false sweetness to his tone that mocked my un-warm welcome. I felt like snarling at him.

"I am having anger management issues today Bane, I suggest you don't be a fucking smart ass." Bane's eyebrow's rose as he walked forward and sat next to me. He sat with his back straight and his knees out. Slowly he hunched forward and let out a sigh. I saw his brow pinch slightly. _He's in pain_. I suddenly felt like wanting to reach out and touch his arm, to comfort him.

"I like the dark. I am not bothering anyone by being here." He looked out towards the mountains. _You are not allowed to act all mysterious and dark right now_. Rage filled my stomach but I just closed my eyes and exhaled slowly.

"If you want to stay here, then you owe me an explanation." I said, steady and almost monotone. My eyes were still closed but I could feel him move, shift his weight slightly.

"Do I?" He sounded threatening, challenging me. Seeing if I really wanted to demand something from him that he may not be ready to tell me. But I didn't care.

"Yes, you do. I don't understand what caused you to just forget about my sister. She always talked about you, the man who saved her life and allowed her to escape; you were supposed to be _Talia's_ protector." I stress my word, putting emphases on my sister's name. "Yet you suddenly decide I am worthy and not her? Why? What happened that I did not observe? I was with you the whole time Bane!" My voice had risen by the time I spoke his name, a slight panic to my words. It was obvious that this had been on my mind all day, gnawing on my brain.

He smiled and looked at his hands. "I can tell a lot from looking at a person, it's something I've been able to do since I can remember. Your sister may be able to hide a lot from others behind screens but I saw the feelings she had towards you and how you reacted. She hates you, she would order you dead if she could. You know this?" He looked at me, only moving his head. I looked at him, searching his face for any emotion I could find, but I found non. I simply nodded.

"I protect the innocent, I seek to destroy the injustice and the corrupt. Your sister," he paused a moment, "was not the girl I saved so many years ago. Her importance in my life has ended for now; she got me here, to you. I saw how you acted with your sister, you never fought back, and you took each punishment, each threat with forgiveness."

"You decided all of that within a week. You haven't seen her in years Bane." His face turned hard and then he wore no expression at all.

"Rayna," he said after moments of silence, "one thing you must remember about me is I do not make decisions lightly. Everything I do has a purpose or reason so you need to trust me." I sat back, the air leaving my lungs. _He's right. I don't trust him with anything yet I expect him to trust me with his life._

"Uuuuuugh!" I dragged my hand over my face, pulling my skin. I could see the smile forming on his lips. He knew he had won. I sighed as I rested my head in my palm. "You're right."

"I know." He simply said, his tone defiant and dominating. I couldn't let him win so easily, let him feel like I was always going to give in.

"You still can't leave me in the dark like that." I looked at Bane, meeting his gaze that was already on me. "I go insane if I don't understand why someone does something that I don't see them normally doing." He laughed at me and looked away.

"You are so delicate." He mused. "I know you are no killer but you have to be able to protect yourself a little bit, Rayna. I can only give you so much safety." He sounded serious towards the end, as he talked about my safety but I didn't hear that, I only heard what my angry mind wanted me to hear.

"I can protect myself." Bane scoffed at the idea. "Just because my father didn't make me an assassin, doesn't mean I never learnt how to harm someone. I was just never good at it." I paused as I remembered all the training exercises my Father would put me through and how my sparring partner was always my sister, she was always the first to volunteer and closest to my size.

"My father wants to purge this world of the corrupt, Bane. I may not be a brother of the league of shadows, but I still believe in what my father wants to do and I will do anything to make it become truth." I paused, waiting for Bane to make a witty remark but when I heard nothing, I continued.

"I come up here because it's my break from all of the suffering, from the pain and the anguish. Men come to me like that man did today, all of the time. I never get a break from it; from the moments when they are going to die and there is nothing I can do for them except comfort them and be the last person to be with them, until they take their last breath. It has been like that for so many years, I have always been told about the corrupt world out there and I see it. I hear what the men see when they go on their missions. There are evils out there that need to be stopped. I can see this is a godless place Bane, so do not tell me I am innocent, that I am delicate because I am far from it, this world is far from allowing someone to be innocent." Bane's eyes were steady on mine, I couldn't look at him, I couldn't let him see the distress in my eyes or the need I felt to cry at that moment.

"Most believe that the league of shadows is an evil in the world that needs to be stopped." A small smile grew on my lips as he challenged my beliefs. As he tested to see what I would do, would I agree with him to please his ego, to form to his views, or would I stay to what I believed and lived by.

"My father taught me something when I was young, when I was smart enough to truly understand." I paused a moment, trying to remember his exact words. "There are two type's of evil in this world, Bane. There is evil that is built from spite, from the want to harm others who have wronged you. That is what breed's corruption, and that is what drive's this world into the menacing place it is today. Then there is necessary evil, the people who have to make the hard decisions, the people who must sacrifice some for the lives of many. We are that necessary evil, Bane." I smiled, wanting to change topics. I felt the pressure from earlier coming back to my temples. "How was training?" I asked a simple question, but I knew the answer would give us a conversation.

"It was good." Bane rested his back against the roof, accepting for now that our previous conversation was over. I watching him as he looked up at the blackness that engulfed the night, gazing at the star covered sky. "Your father says my strength is promising." I couldn't help but laugh and look up at the same night sky.

"Well of course you are. You can be pretty menacing with your size Bane. You are stronger than most of the league members already." A smile crept across my face; I knew the question that would come out of his perfectly formed lips in a second.

"Most?" My smile grew to a grin; I was right.

"Yes, Bane. Most." I paused, looking at him again. "Strength is more than just muscle. There is strength of the mind, tactical thinking. Agility, Weapon's training. It takes years to fully train a brother of the league, something you will have weeks to learn. Expect to be worked hard Bane, the master's will not be so kind to you." It felt nice to be more knowledgeable then him for once. I could see the appeal he had when he felt like this, why he always wanted to be right. But then again, it could easily be a man thing; my father is the same way.

"Masters?" I propped myself up on my elbows, staring at him with confusion.

"Bane, you're smart, think about it." I paused, waiting for him to come to some realization but he had none. He honestly had no idea how someone became a league member. "There are four masters; the first is a master of strength. They will teach you about breaking things with your bare hands, feet and what have you. Second is your master of Agility and speed. They will teach you how to dodge blocks, how to quickly get behind your enemy and how to quickly strike at the most opportune times with absolute precision." I couldn't help but smile. "Something, that I feel, will be the hardest for you to learn." He looked at me, as if to accept the challenge to exceed in that category the most.

"The third will teach you tactics. You will learn how to get in and out, how to plot a mission, plan it out thoroughly and the last master is my father. You will have to use all of your skills to defeat him, and if you do, then you join the league. If not, then you will die or get exiled. Depends how poorly you lose. Usually most people don't get taught by all four masters though, but they just so happen to all be here now, so in some ways you are lucky… in others, you are not." I laughed.

"I will not lose." He had dedication and a finite way of speaking. I knew he meant it, he had no room to even think defeat as a possibility. If he lost, he knew I would not follow him if my father were kind enough to spare his life in the first place, to do that I would have to cast away this life forever and leave everything behind. Not many people leave the league of shadows alive; my father had a hard time trusting those exiled with the secrets of the league.

"I'm glad we both agree on something. I still think you will get your ass handed to you by the agility master though." I stood up and wiped down my pants, getting all of the dirt off of me. "I don't know about you but I am hungry and you need to get some morphine in you. I can tell you're in pain Bane." I heard him laugh as his weight shifted. He was standing next to me, his arm against my shoulder.

"I know you can." He simply said, an odd tone of affection to his voice. I couldn't help but smile and let my head fall sideways and rest against his muscular arm. I felt him turn and suddenly my head was against his chest. His arms wrapped around me and embraced me. I felt his warmth and only then noticed how cold I actually was. I pressed my body against his, wanting to absorb his heat.

For moments, we stood in silence, enjoying the other's presence. I sighed as I realized that the rooftop had lost all meaning to it now unless Bane was with me. The way we stood at that moment, the way our bodies intertwined and the way our silence lingered, I felt safe and my only thoughts were on him. There was no other world for me except the one where Bane existed. That was the only world I wanted to be a part of.

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**I hope you all enjoyed it. haha. I personally love how Bane can so easily get under Rayna's skin. Something I see him doing with ease with anyone he wanted to. I will have a Bane POV chapter coming up soon, maybe in 3ish chapters? But let me know what you think, would you all be excited for a Bane POV chapter? Are you apprehensive? How do you feel about the development between Rayna and Bane? I just want to ask questions cause I love hearing feedback. It honestly helps me see my story from another's perspective, see what you like and don't like.**

**But now i'm rambling. Thank you to everyone who is still following this story, I am legit going to start writing the next chapter right away xD haha. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be coming out, maybe Thursday? I have to see what my work schedule will be like but I wont get that till tomorrow unfortunatley D:  
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**As always, thank you for reading and LOVE LOVE!  
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**Narrie  
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**P.S. Something I forgot to put in here before I published it, but I knew I may be adding some AU factors to the League but there isn't much information given to us about the league. Hope i'm not ruining the comic league for people D: and if I am tell me and I can rectify it. ^^  
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**P.P.S. I re-edited because for some reason when it copied over from word it added random sentences that made absolutely no sense and i'm sorry for that. :( I will start editing my work when I put in my Author Note's from now.  
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	5. Chapter 5

**DOUBLE POST! YAY! Okay, so I legit couldn't resist at all. I am slowly becoming obsessed with this story and everything that inhabits it, no complaints at all though! This chapter is a bit on the shorter side for me, but it will lead up to something amazing that I hope all of you will love!**

**A new OC is being introduced this chapter, nothing major or main but just a fun character to create, something I think all stories that are possibly more serious than not need. I hope you enjoy him and let me know what you think if you care to :D  
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**With that, I will let you all read the next chapter and again, I honestly adore you all for your ongoing support :) I promise that nothing goes by me unnoticed and I send a silent thank you for every view, follow, favorite or review that you guys n gals give me ;)  
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**Enjoy!  
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**Oh and sicne I forgot to add this up till now. I do not own anything except my OC's, filler filler filler. I don't own Batman/DC univers, blah blah blah. I don't make any money off of this either.**

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Chapter Five

I told Bane to go back to my office and hook himself up to his IV, something he had taught himself after seeing me do it only a few times before. I would go grab us some food. I walked into the mess hall, the tables were mostly empty by this point though; I was coming at the time when most were going to bed already. I walked right into the kitchen and started to look for food I could make myself.

"Rayna? What are you doing in here?" I heard the familiar voice of our cook, Azriel. He was somewhat like me in the way that we wasn't good enough to be an assassin but he was very much part of this family as I was, we always found a use for a talented man. I smiled at him.

"Azzy, I'm hungry." I paused as he raised one eyebrow at me as if saying 'Are you being serious right now'. My smile grew. "I missed dinner again and so did my patient. He had some complications with his medicine." He grinned at me with a slight devilish twist.

"Is that so? I heard he had training with your father. OH wait! Or was he with you on the rooftop?" My eyes opened wide and I stared at the boy who wasn't much older than me. I always forgot he was head of intelligence, that there wasn't much you could hide from the man. Nobody knew how he did it, how he got all the information he needed on his own, but he was also my friend and he was the only other person besides my father that I trusted.

"You…you didn't—" He threw his hand up, stopping my sentence and turned around, walking over to the stove.

"You hurt me with your accusations. I would never tell anyone, you just couldn't, and can't, hide anything from me. You always forget that." I hopped up on a counter and watched Azzy as he grabbed chicken, rice and some vegetables and threw them all into different pans. "For two right?" I nodded, my mind on the other part of that two. "Rayna?" Him saying my name brought me back, I slightly stuttered when I spoke.

"Uh, yes. Sorry, I nodded. Thought you would have seen that." I laughed as he shook his head.

"Piss off." He joked with me. It was nice to have him around; he wasn't serious at all when he didn't have to be. He was sarcastic and bratty just like me but he still had a tenderness that he kept hidden for very few. We didn't speak as he cooked; I just sat with my own thoughts as I heard the sizzling of the chicken cooking in the room. "So Bane's one hunk of a man, isn't he?" I laughed and shook my head.

"Azzy, all you care about is physique. There is a lot more to Bane and besides, I already have to deal with my sister. I don't care to have to try to keep you off of him too. If I even want him in that way." I looked the cook over; his promiscuous ways always got him in trouble and got him sass from me about it too. He was giving me a look that was questioning me if I wanted Bane to be mine. He even seemed slightly annoyed that I even second-guessed the idea. "Besides, I don't think you're his type." I changed the mood, I had too many serious questions and conversations in one day, I didn't want another one. I could tell Azzy knew how I felt because all seriousness left his face as he pouted.

"Aww, why do you have to say such hurtful things? You never know, I could be his type." I smiled at his ability to brighten my mood almost instantly, but that didn't stop the question from entering my mind. What was Bane's type?I knew well enough that it wouldn't be a man, but it still begged the question as to what Bane liked in a woman, or in a partner. I signed as I couldn't think of anything, only that the two women I knew he had feelings for, were the closest to polar opposites that you could get.

"Cause you're a man." I simply said and he laughed, turning back to the food.

"You would be surprised what men want when they feel how amazing it can be, little Ray Ray." Scowling, I hopped off the counter and walked up beside him.

"Don't call me that and give me my food. I'm annoyed with you now." Azzy laughed hard and dumped the rice, chicken and then vegetables onto two plates, one with more portions than the other. I smiled and gave Azzy a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks as always, but your still annoying." He just continued to laugh and lazily saluted me with a cooking utensil. I shook my head as I left the room.

When I arrived back at my office, I saw Bane sitting on his bed, awaiting my arrival. He was sitting with just his pants on, his chest was bare and I felt myself blush. "Put on a shirt." I said, looking at the tray of food I carried, trying to avoid my eyes and hide the discomfort in my voice. I had seen a man's bare chest before, but for some reason I didn't want to look and see Bane like this, not yet. "Come eat after too." I placed the tray of food on the working table in the middle of my office and then turned to face my desk. I started to gather my papers so I could put them to the side and make room for my plate of food; I always ate at my office desk.

I felt his chest press against my back, feeling slight déjà vu from the other day when Bane had first kissed me. I felt my body stiffen as I realized why, why he did it. Why at these moments he seems to find me more appealing than others. "You like it when I am uncomfortable, when I am scared." I simply stated and I felt him back off. I turned around to look at him, square in the eyes.

"That's what compelled you to kiss me, to hold me. Isn't it?" I paused a moment, to wait for him to protest, hoping he would but when he didn't I felt myself become more furious. "Well it's not fair to me, I have to sort out my own…" I searched for the words to describe the feelings I had for Bane, the cautions, the worries and the fears but again, my mind failed me at the time I needed it most, "thing when it comes to you. I don't need your help mucking up my thought process. So put a damn shirt on and eat your food." Bane smiled at me and turned around, grabbing his shirt.

I watched as his back muscles moved as he raised his arms, putting on his shirt. _I see what Azzy meant._ I sighed inwardly and looked back at my desk, feeling defeated and miserable at the feelings I had growing for Bane. _There were so many warnings about him._ I sat and stared at the drawing I had done of Bane, sitting at the top of the stack of papers._ So then why do I ignore them?_

He get's under my skin constantly, I can't remember the last time I had lost my composure so many times within a week, and the worst part was he found amusement in it. It was his way of being playful though, and I found it fun at times and when it didn't become fun for me anymore, when I hit that breaking point, he always backed off. My mind went back and forth, con followed by pro until Bane broke our silence and my train of thought.

"You are not someone I have seen fear much, Rayna. I am fascinated with the feeling, with what makes people feel fear and for you it is such a strange reason you fear things. I tried to alleviate you from that feeling." He paused a moment, letting me try to comprehend what he was saying. He kissed me to stop me feeling that fear? Did he not understand that it just amplified it? "Fear does not suit you well." I looked at him, furious beyond belief. I couldn't contain it.

"You have NO RIGHT." I raised my voice, almost yelling at him but I paused a moment, trying to calm myself down again. "…no right to decide what I can feel and can't. You do not know me Bane, you can sit there all high and mighty like you can see everything a person stands for by one look but you can't. I refuse to think that you know every part of me, know what suits me and what doesn't. Truth of the matter is that I have lived fear much beyond yours. You only had to worry about yourself, about your own safety Bane. You didn't have the lives of so many rest on your conscious, on your ability and knowledge." I was livid and for some reason, for the first time since I had met Bane, his eyes were not dancing as he saw me angry, as he got the rise he wanted out of me.

"I saw the first man I loved, die in front of me. Ever since then I knew that the things I love, the things I care for, are not safe. They will forever have a target on their back, so to you I may fear over silly things, over things that make me seem delicate and innocent. But you cannot _understand_ the fear you have, the bone chilling, heart wrenching fear you can feel when you helplessly watch a loved one die. When you care so much for someone that when they are gone from your life, you are left lost and jaded. You ask me to trust you Bane, to trust your instincts but how can I when you pull me right and left, up and down. You have a false sense of understanding and if you keep that up, people will see you for the brood that you can so easily become. You will never be accepted into this brotherhood." My words were harsh and venomous but I was angry, I was even beyond angry. He had insulted me numerous times, challenged my character and what I stood for over the past week and I would tolerate it no longer. We stared at each other, each daring the other to react first.

"I miss judged you." He simply stated. I let out an exasperated groan.

"You can't just gracefully accept defeat in an argument can you?" He looked at me, his glare threatening and deadly.

"If you have conversations because you want to win, then you shouldn't speak in the first place." There was no emotion to what he said; all I could hear was the threat. For an angry man, he was so well composed and it drove me insane. I grabbed my plate and went into the training room, sitting on the few steps that lead to my office. I needed to cool off, I was being a hot head and I couldn't afford to be like that around Bane, to be like that at all.

"I feel safe with you Bane." I said, finally cooled down from my earlier rage. I heard his cutlery rest down on the table, telling me that I had his undivided attention and no doubt, his eyes were on me. "I don't know why, and I can't explain it but it scares me. The last time I felt like this…I…My sister…" I felt the want to cry rise in my throat once more but I pushed it down. "My sister didn't even care for him, yet she still found a way to take him from me. I know I am not yours and you are not mine but…part of me wants that. Wants to be separate and away from you, so I don't have to relive that feeling, that loss—" There was nothing but silence and I broke away from my sentence, from the rhythm I had as words flowed from my lips.

"But then there's this part of you, in between the playful banter and when you drive me insane, that I cannot get enough of. The Bane that I know, that I have seen over this past week and a bit, the part of you that is vulnerable but I—"

"Some things are uncertain, or unknowing. You have to learn to trust your instincts Rayna, not what you already know. Not every situation you will be faced with will be able to be rectified with what knowledge you already possess. You do not know everything, do you?" I clasped my hands together and looked at them. _Why did he always have to be so damn wise and then end his wisdom like he was talking to a child?_ I sighed.

"No, but that still doesn't mean that everything is to be fixed with impulse thinking either. There has to be fact, has to be substance and reason behind a decision. It takes me even longer than you to come to a conclusion Bane, so you will have to deal with it okay? I will not promise myself to another so easily again…never again." I looked at the plate of food I had barely touched and grimaced. "I'm not even hungry anymore." I growled, knowing I couldn't force myself to eat but that I would have pains in the morning.

"Go to bed." Bane's voice came from directly behind me, I hadn't heard him getting up. He reached over my shoulder and grabbed my plate. "You have a lot on your mind. It will be better if you rest now." There it was again, the softness that I craved from him constantly but I knew he couldn't always show. I nodded and let him walk past me to return the plates and tray to the kitchen. Sighing I went to bed, hoping that when I woke up, my mind would have already unraveled all of my confused thoughts for me.

A door closing loudly, out of anger but despite their obvious attempt to still keep it quiet, I was awoken from my slumber. "What do you mean you have no use for me?" My sister's voice rang through the room; I heard it and felt the need to cower under my blankets, as if it would protect me from her rage. I had no idea who she spoke to but she sounded furious and almost confused.

"You are not the person you once were Talia." I heard Bane's voice and wanted to cower further. _What is he doing? He said he was going to act as if he still cared for her, not tell her off._ This was bad; this was going to turn out really, really bad. Oddly enough, I found myself worrying about Bane's safety more than my own. "You no longer represent what I stand to protect."

"So you will just cast me aside? For who, MY SISTER?" She was yelling now, but it was the silence that came after that was more threatening.

"You will not harm her, Talia." I heard her give a sharp laugh.

"You cannot protect her all of the time Bane. There will be a moment when she will be alone and you wont be—" Her voice was cut off my gasps and a few coughs. When Bane spoke, it sounded almost foreign. I had never heard him sound so angry, so threatening.

"You touch her and I will crush you a thousand times over. She is not to blame for this, she does not even reciprocate my feelings." There was an emptiness to his tone. I had no clue if my sister heard it, but I did and it was enough to make me feel like I was less of a person for making him feel like that. "I just cannot pretend to love you." I suddenly heard my sister let out a few harsh breaths, unsure why but quickly after I heard the training room door slam shut and I closed my eyes, trying to appear to be asleep.

I heard Bane enter the room and stop at the entrance; I could feel his eyes on me. "I am sorry I did not follow what you asked of me." He said to, what he presumed to be, my sleeping self. "I cannot be what I am not though." I heard him sigh as he obviously sat down on his own bed, the familiar springs creaking under his weight.

"You are much like me Rayna, even if you do not see it. You are brutally honest, true to yourself and your beliefs. That is what has made me fall for you, what brought me to you, and those moments when you allow yourself to be vulnerable." A small gasp left his lips. "I cannot resist. I am sorry, and I am sorry I will never allow myself to tell you this." I felt his eyes on me again. "I fear I will never be good enough for you, that I will not be able to protect you, that I will never meet another like you. I fear losing you just as much as you fear losing me." With one last sigh I heard him relax into his bed.

I did not dare sleep after that moment, I laid awake with my eyes closed, as his words ran through my mind. I was so wrapped up in my own drama, my own distress that I did not see it all from Bane's perspective. He had come from a place where there was comradery, all they understood was paying back dues and debts. There was no love in Bane's life. He had never been allowed to love anyone, he never allowed himself to do it. That's why he could never tell me what he just told himself.

Bane and I were both damaged, both fearful of losing the other yet I was the part of this that was stopping us from being together, I just can't bring myself to give my every being to him freely, without warrant. All I could decide on at that moment was to never tell Bane that I was awake that night, whether he knew or not…I would never admit it to him.

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**Aww Bane's sweet side! Something he won't show often but when he does, it stays with you forever. ;) Well I hope you enjoyed the fic and to those worrying about the pace of their relationship, I too was worried a little but it will slow down, I promise. As you can see what Bane is doing to Rayna, she's apprehensive but whenever he hold's her or get's near her, she forgets about the warning's or the precautions she has about him.**

**I will have the next chapter up by Thursday probably. The next one may take longer for me to write, I know I will be extremely critical about it which means multiple edits unless, somehow I miraculously write like a mad genious and get the general feel for the chapter right from the beginning (Similar to what happened with this chapter, which allowed me to post to damn fast).  
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**Anywho, let me know what you think, how do you like the direction it's going. Like you all must know by now, I love feedback and hearing what people think. I honestly do take it to heart and if I love an idea enough I will put it into the story or encorporate it somehow. Same goes for suggestions or when people need more clarification. I like to let the characters explain it more than myself :)  
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**Thank you again for reading and also taking the time to read my A/N's. I know there are always so many X| I just like keeping people in the loop...it probably doesn't help that I like to talk a lot too...  
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**Love love!  
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**Narrie  
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**P.S. I'm silly and forget that today is not Tuesday for everyone in the world! I'm sorry, the next chapter should be up in 2-3 days. Depends if I get anymore writing done today. hehe and sorry for my derp moment. X|  
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	6. Chapter 6

**Legit finished this minutes before I have to go to work! Okay, so I hope you all really enjoy this fic. It took me longer to write but with a help from a very lovely person, I started to really understand the part of Bane that I needed to know for this chapter to work like it has. I won't say too much so you can start reading (for those who even read A/N's haha) but I hope you enjoy the Bane POV ^^**

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Chapter Six

I let out a sigh and rested back onto my bed, my weight caused strain to the usual springs. I closed my eyes and instantly saw her, the way she looked at me before I had kissed her. The way her hazel eyes opened wide but it wasn't fear that drove them that way; she wasn't afraid. I sighed heavily; it amazed me how Rayna could take over my mind completely.

Even in my delirious state I was in when I first arrived here, I could not tell whom she was or remember her face; I just remember seeing the hazy outline of a woman with a pale complexion and fire red hair. For so long I didn't understand why she was being so gentle with me, most of it wasn't necessary but she still went out of her way to make sure I wasn't hurt; as if I had the strength of a small child.

Smiling, I thought of how easily she got aggravated. I would not lie; it did amuse me most of the times. She gets so hot headed when she allows me to get under her skin, she becomes a different person and it enthralls me every time; it draws me in. But when she becomes angry towards me is a whole different story. I always knew at those moments that I had to stop anything I was doing, I had gone too far with my comments or maybe I offended her with a tone, or she was just angry and confused with herself but all she could do was yell at me. She was delicate, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

My heart felt heavy in my chest as I heard her voice speak in my mind "But I cannot promise myself to another so easily again—". _Why can she not see that I feel the same way? That there are some things that happen which cannot be foreseen, that you cannot ignore. _I sighed and started to close my mind; I did not care to worry more about it at that moment. It would do me no good; I knew I had to prepare myself for the masters.

I always had a hard time sleeping when I started to think of how perfect the league was and how fortunate I was to have found it; and everything else that came with it. To finally find a place that wanted to protect the innocent, the one's who cannot protect themselves, just as much as I did, words could never describe how it felt.

I felt myself fading in and out of consciousness. I had strained myself enough for the day; it left me a lot to think about but I would have to put those thoughts aside until another day.

When I woke, Rayna was not in the room. I felt my heart race; it wasn't like her to not be here; making sure I woke okay. I quickly jumped out of my bed and as I quickly scanned the room one last time I saw Ra's Al Ghul, sitting at Rayna's desk; it didn't feel right to see anyone else sitting there besides her.

"Plans have changed today Bane." His voice was steady and to the point. I wasn't sure what plans he meant though. "Your training with the master's starts today, in a few moments. We will leave it to you to decide who it is that is training you first." He smiled and stood up. "See you in the training room when you are ready." He left the room and closed the door.

Suddenly I felt an emptiness I had not felt in awhile, something I hoped I would have never felt again. I was accustomed to Rayna being with me, since I was brought here, she has been with me. I didn't understand how I could want someone so badly. My thoughts always seemed to go back to that kiss; I felt dizzy when our lips touched, as she pressed against me. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of her getting mad at me for doing it, not understanding why I kissed her but she doesn't realize that it was my first kiss and I was just as clueless as her.

All my life I had wondered what it would be like to finally kiss Talia, the woman I had devoted myself to, forged my ideals around. She was the innocence that I swore to protect so long ago, but when I got here it was completely different. I saw the way she looked at Rayna, the pure hatred that brewed inside her; the thing I wanted to rid from this world.

Then there was Rayna. Emotions drove her actions, whether it's her own or the emotions of the people around her; she's very much an emulator and I loved that about her. She was a true chameleon; she had the ability to switch from one personality to another within seconds. I smiled as I grabbed my training clothes, remembering the time she pushed them into my chest and then broke the frame out of anger as she left her office.

Finally having my gear on, I stretched my muscles before walking into the training room for my first encounter with the masters. I would defeat them though, I knew I would, I had to. I stepped into the room but the only light in the training area came from Rayna's office. The door quickly shut behind me and I engulfed in darkness, I couldn't help but smirk. I loved the dark, it was familiar to me and I knew it would aid me more than my enemy.

Suddenly I got hit on the back of my head, the force sending me off balance, I staggered forward. I twisted my torso to look behind me but I saw nothing, no slight outline of another person. "We are the shadow." A voice said but the way it sounded threw me off, I could not tell where it came from or whom it could belong to; it sounded almost robotic, it had no emotion. Another hit collided with the back of my left knee, almost making it give out completely.

"Who are you?" I called out, hoping that they would reply. The more they talked, the more used to the voice I could get and then I wouldn't be distracted by it anymore.

"I already told you this." Another hit to my right shoulder, I turned to look that way. "I am a shadow." Fingers pressed against my windpipe, my body went rigid; I had already lost. "You want to be a shadow? Then stop acting like a boy." A small snarl left my lips. "And do not let your anger control you, harness and use it to fight."

I took a swing at the master, but all I hit was air. My fist was quickly grabbed as a force hit my forearm and I felt the bones snap and tear my skin. I wanted to yell out in pain, to kill the person that did this to me, but most of all, I wanted Rayna. "Do not fight unless you are willing the consequences. That is enough for today, I will see you tomorrow." The lights came on in the room but the master was already gone, I was alone and helpless in the training room.

I heard doors open and a small cry fill the room. "Bane!" I heard her voice and then I felt her familiar touch. My body already relaxed, I knew I would be in good hands and I knew that everything would be okay. "Bane. Please, walk with me. I need to get you into my office." I nodded and slowly stood up while she kept my arm level and steady, alleviated as much pain as possible for me.

She sat me down on a chair and rested my arm on the table, I growled in pain but I stopped when I felt Rayna run her hand up and down my right bicep, I couldn't help but smile. "Is that your backup plan for relaxing me if my forearm is broken?" I saw her smile and look at me.

"I can't believe you're making a joke when your arm is like this. But yes, and did it work?" I raised one finger and smiled at her. I felt the familiar IV slip into my arm as I watched her shake her head at me. I didn't care to not show her my affection, when we were alone I would show her how much I cared about her, show her what it could be like if she did the same.

_I may be confused on what love is, if it's what Talia and I had or if it's the feelings I have for Rayna, but all I knew for this moment is that I will not hide anything from her. Maybe I was having this revelation because of the one sided talk I had with her last night and the fact that, for some reason, I felt like she heard me. If she did though, she wasn't saying anything about it…I wonder—_

My train of thought was abruptly stopped as I felt Rayna reset my bones. I didn't make a sound; it took every ounce of my energy to make that happen. "Sorry." Her soft voice apologized; I heard the worry in her tone. "You seemed deep in thought and that's the best time to reset bones..." We sat in silence for a moment.

"Rayna?" I heard her hum a reply; she was fixated on my arm now. "How am I going to defeat the master tomorrow if I have this?" I pointed at my forearm, a useless gesture since she knew what I was talking about and wasn't watching me to see my gestures.

"We have special serums and rubs that will heal wounds within hours Bane." I heard her smile. "I forget you aren't used to that sort of thing." I simply shook my head. In the prison if you got a cut that was bad enough, you could easily have died from it; death by infection was popular in that prison. She showed me a jar and started to soak my bandages in it. When she applied it to my arm, it was cool to the touch and already the throbbing had stopped. "And about the master issue, I can teach you a few simple blocks I know. My father did teach me to defend myself and I still remember them pretty well." I grinned at her.

"You wouldn't be able to block my strength." Rayna had the same body structure as her sister; she had muscle to her but it wasn't trained and it wasn't like mine. She was always reading, never training, so when she tells me that she can defend herself, I find it almost cute. She looked up at me, her eyes slightly lidded and her mouth in a line, I couldn't help but smile.

"Do you want my help or not?" She looked down at my arm. "By the looks of it, I would say yes. I came back to see you fight the master, not be on the ground with a broken arm." She was looking back down at my forearm; I could tell that by the slight change to her tone, she was getting angry. I just looked away and continued to smile.

It was these moments that I wanted to kiss her. To take that scowl from her face, that was unfitting of her features. And I knew that when our lips would part, she would be smiling again. Even if she would yell at me about it later, it was worth it but I wouldn't put her through that, not until she could promise herself to me; until she truly allowed me to become her protector.

My mind was lost in thought for the rest of the time she worked on my arm. When she finished, she patted my hand. I flinched out of anticipation for the pain but when I felt none and saw that the morphine IV was out of my arm, I couldn't help but stare at my arm. "It will relieve your whole body of pain until your arm is healed, which is in about two hours, shall we go practice?" I nodded and followed her into the training room.

I scanned my surroundings and saw that my blood had been cleaned up already. Rayna walked to the middle of the room and turned to face me. "Hit me." She stated and I just stared at her, my mind couldn't comprehend what she was telling me to do. "Bane, come at me and try to hit me." I didn't move. I wasn't going to try to hit her. She said we would be practicing blocks, not this. "Now Bane!" She yelled at me and I felt a small fire burn in my stomach. I saw her smile; she knew she had gotten a slight rise out of me but I still refused to move.

She sighed and walked towards me, grabbing my hands I felt a small flutter within me, something I had never felt before and didn't know if I wanted to again. It took me from my regular composure and I hated that feeling. She walked me forward, until we were in the middle of the room. "Bane, I promise I will block okay? Trust me." I watched her eyes, I saw how steady they were on mine; I had to trust her. I nodded and she smiled at me; I felt that flutter again.

I swung at her. She bent backwards and grabbed my fist, mid-swing. I couldn't help but glare at the grip he had on me. "Bane, you aren't dealing with broods anymore. The type of people the league of shadows goes after are just as trained as we are, if not more. You will not be able to fight with the ways you used in the prison, throwing punches aimlessly." She grabbed my shoulder and gently rocked my torso back and forth, side to side. "This is where your force comes from, throw your body into your swing. It will become faster, harder hitting and harder to block. Now let's try again."

This time she barely got out of the way of my swing. When she bent back up straight I watched her with worried eyes. When her eyes met mine, she grinned. "Don't worry Bane, I'm fine and that's a tremendous improvement. Now let's teach you how to block. Let me just try to remember them all." She stood there, deep in thought as I watched her. She was right, I had to approach this training, with her and the masters as if I was learning to fight for the first time. I had to think with every movement, and using my torso the way she just showed me felt right.

We practiced blocks over and over again until my arm was healed but I felt the pain from my scars start to surface, I hid the pain from Rayna for a while after my arm was healed though. But the first grimace I let pass, she stopped everything and started to worry about me. When we got into her office, I was forced to go to bed. "You have to sleep, your body has been through a lot today." She smiled at me and put in the IV. She never gave me a lot, it was always a small dosage but it was enough to make the pain tolerable, something I knew she didn't know I appreciated.

When I woke up in the morning, I was relieved to see Rayna. She was sitting at her desk and quickly turned around as I started to get up from my bed. "I have breakfast for you." I smiled as she greeted me the same. "Good morning." The smile was apparent in her tone. "You slept in so I told the Master I would go get them when you were ready. So quickly eat and get dressed, I will go get the Master now."

She walked over to me and kissed my head. "Good luck." She whispered as her lips withdrew from me. I felt the flutter inside of me again but magnified tenfold. I didn't understand how a single person could make me feel so many emotions, so many different feelings; things I had never felt.

Finishing my food and getting dressed, I stepped into the dark training room once more. I walked into the middle of the room and looked towards Rayna's office door as it slowly closed. "You are more confident this time? What has changed? Are you angry I broke your arm?" The master was taunting me, I felt the fire burn inside of me but I suppressed it, keeping it for the time I would need it. I heard the slight movement of feet on the ground and I turned right in time to block one attack.

"Good, you have learnt." Was the curt reply. I continued to block each shot, jab or kick they tried to get me with. I used this time to slowly walk towards them, my instincts told me that they would either back up or would become vulnerable to my punch. Slowly the master walked backwards, each time they tried to hit me, I would block. Each time they would try to dodge to the side, I would stop them. I grinned as they were trapped against the wall.

The master was now easy prey; I could pulverize them, but that was what the fire inside of me wanted. Instead I wanted to see who this 'shadow' was. I reached out and grabbed their face but all I felt in my fingers was fabric and something of solid mass. Quickly, light filled the room and I looked at my attacker, at the supposed brute who broke my arm but all I saw were dancing hazel eyes as I stared at a person who was more than a head shorter than me.

With a quick tug, I ripped the fabric from their face. Rayna smiled back at me and grabbed the metal contraption that was within the fabric I tore from her face. "Congratulations, you have passed the first master." I just stared at her blankly, not knowing what to think. "Bane? Are you really that shocked?" There was a slight edge to her tone; _she would take my silence as an insult_. I simply shook my head.

"I'm just surprised I mis-judged you." Her features softened but she quickly grimaced and became strained as she touched her knuckles. I looked down to see that they were split open, bruised and bleeding. I felt empty as I stared at her hands, helplessly. _I did that_. I quickly grabbed her hands, as delicately as possible. I looked at her, seeing the confusion in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hurt you like that."

She smiled and slightly shook her head. "It's okay Bane. I'm fine." I felt her hand rest against my cheek. Despite my desire for her touch, I couldn't allow myself that feeling; I didn't deserve it and I didn't deserve her.

"It's not." I moved my face away from her hand. I saw her brow slightly crease, she didn't understand. "I hurt you Rayna. I promised myself, I swore, that I would never harm you, never cause you any pain."

"Bane…" Her voice was like silk, soft and flowing. I felt her tug at my chin, trying to force me to look at her. "Bane." That was a demand, she wasn't asking me to look at her, and she was expecting me to. Reluctantly I looked at her, evident that tears were forming in my eyes. "If you want to love me, if you want to protect me, then you must accept that I will hurt, that I will be sad at points because that is what love brings. It is pain, it is ecstasy…it is suffering and bliss." Her hand gracefully brushed the tear from my cheek, saving me from having to do it myself.

"I know it is not fair of me to do this to you Bane. It is not fair for me to pull you along as I figure out my own feelings for you…I envy your ability to act upon instincts. It has always been so hard for me, to do what I want and not what is expected of me, what is the logical action to be taken." She looked down at our hands that were now interlocked. We both looked down, staring in silence for a while. I knew she wasn't done speaking, she still had thoughts to say, she was just gathering the strength to say it; an ability of hers I was envious of. "But I am trying." She finally said, looking back up at me, her hazel eyes searching mine. She was looking at me like she always did when she fought her inner feelings, her eyes were wide and full of wonder, of strain and desire.

Swiftly, before I knew it, her lips where against mine. Our hands released from the others grip, allowing her to hold onto my neck and letting mine wrap around her waist. I felt the fire grow inside of me, however it burned cool this time, not hot. It was strange but I enjoyed it and I wanted more. I pulled her closer to me and she pressed against my lips, a small moan escaping her; the fire grew.

Her hands wrapped around my neck, I felt her muscles flex against my skin as she tightened her grip on me, forcing my lips apart. I felt my mind shut off at that point; there was no thought that entered my mind except her. Trying to picture, to see, what we looked like right now. I felt her curly hair on my face, I felt it cover the parts of my face her lips or nose didn't.

When she pulled away from me, I refused to loosen my grip. I wanted to stay like this forever; I never wanted to let her go.

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**Okay, now before anyone get's angry because this isn't the Bane from TDKR, I just want to clarify with people that this fic is building him up to become that character, that person but at the same time it's hard to balance so I apologize if my Bane isn't the way most perceive him to be but it's how I imagine him to be at this point.**

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter though! It honestly was tough to do but I think it turned out well enough. :D As always, thank you for your continuing support and I love you all for it! I can't wait to hear what you all have to say about the newest chapter. Hopefully I will be able to update sometime over the next few days, my schedule is kinda hectic this weekend though but I will always try my best ^^  
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**Love love!  
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**Narrie  
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	7. Chapter 7

**I'm glad to hear that everyone liked the Bane POV chapter! I hope you enjoy this one too! :D And thank you to everyone who continues to favorite, follow, review and read this story. It means a lot to me that a lot of you thoroughly enjoy this story and I hope you know that I love writing it just as much.**

**Enjoy!  
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Chapter Seven

He held me close to him, his grip around my waist strong but I didn't mind, for once I was allowing myself what I wanted; Bane. I smiled at him as I let my hand trace his jaw, before I got to his chin I grimaced at the awkward angle my knuckles were forced to bend. I had forgotten about the state they were in.

"I have to bandage this up." I said, but before I could try to get out of Bane's grip, he brought my feet out from under me without my notice. He carried me in his arms, effortlessly, to my office and sat me down on my bed.

"Let me." He said and I nodded. When he sat down on my small rolling stool, I couldn't help but smile. He looked enormous sitting on my chair and it looked almost ridiculous to me.

"That's what me need to do to make you seem more menacing to others." I dead-panned. I knew he had no clue what I was talking about but I smiled, anticipating his reaction. "We just need to make sure all your furniture and all your men around you are just shorter and smaller than you." I smiled and he looked at me, his eyes dancing. He looked down at the stool and then back up at me.

"You might be onto something." He grinned and I smiled. He could be so charming at times, with his simple agreements or statements but it was his grin afterwards that always made my heart skip a beat. I watched as he gently took my hand into his and he started to wrap them in soaked bandages.

It was an odd thing, to see a man of Bane's mass treating something so delicately. He was smooth and soft; his fingers barely touched me as he wrapped my hands. "Thank you." I said to him as he went to wash his hands off from the balm.

"You're welcome." He turned back to me, a towel in his hands. "Even if you did break my arm." I sunk into my shoulders, hunching my back; I felt my face grow red. I had forgotten that I did that.

"I didn't mean to, but you swung at me. What was I supposed to do?" He looked at and smiled. I knew that he was thinking 'not break my arm'. I scowled at him. "You ATTACKED a master!" I stressed the word, raising and straining my voice. "Any idiot who does that when they first meet a master deserves to get more than just their forearm broken." Bane just laughed and watched me from the other side of the room.

"You told me nothing of the masters. How was I to know otherwise?" I smiled and shook my head.

"Okay, well in my experience. It's not always the brightest thing to take a swing at the person who _just_ had their fingers pressed to your windpipe ready to collapse it. Food for thought." My words reeked of sarcasm but he just smiled at me. He walked over to me and held my face in his hands.

"You're right." He paused. "I will forever have a scar though." I closed my eyes and smiled, resting my head against the hand of his once broken arm. I wrapped my hands around it, holding it gently; I pulled it towards my lips. Kissing his scar, I smiled against his skin.

"Feel better?" I asked as I looked up at Bane. He raised his hand to be against my cheek once more.

"No." He said as he leaned down to kiss me once on the lips. I felt my face move with his as he pulled away. When I opened my eyes I saw Bane grinning at me, I knew that grin almost too well by now. He always smiled like that when he wanted to be playful or toy with me, which usually left me annoyed, but it was a small price to pay to see that side of him. "So I guess you won't tell me who the other master's are?"

I laughed and shook my head. "You weren't even supposed to know it was me. You just happened to do something I didn't expect you to do when you had me cornered. I was waiting for a punch or kick, not for you to grab my hood. Only league members know who the masters are, if we told everyone that we met who the masters were, then we would all be dead sooner than we all would wish to." I saw Bane frown as I spoke of my possible death. I realized that I shouldn't have said that so I quickly tried to change topics.

"That voice synthesis I had, the metal contraption that you had in your hand. It double's as a ventilation system; I made it for your mask. It will filter the drug into the air you breathe. So every breath you take, you also take a very miniscule dosage of morphine. It will be slightly more than what you have now, but that's just because you need to get used to the mask and it will always be touching your scars. And your voice will throw off your enemy as mine did to you." The pain had left his eyes by the time I had finished explaining; they were dancing again.

Bane didn't need to say anything. I knew that he was appreciative of the effort I put behind the design of his mask, not thinking of what should be there but what he would want, what he would need. "All I can tell you about the masters is that you will see the next one tomorrow. They will train you on weapons and how to weaponize modern, every day use, common items. The next master will teach you about Strength. Strength of mind, body and spirit. They will test your faith and your beliefs. The last person you will face is the master of all of us, I'm pretty sure you can figure out who that is on your own." I smiled at Bane but he scowled at me.

"I have to fight your father?" I shook my head.

"You will never have to fight my father." He frowned further.

"Then why tell me things you have already told me? It's redundant." I raised my eyebrows at Bane. I was surprised by the way he was acting, he wasn't listening to what I said; I told him everything he needed to know.

"If you listened carefully to my words then you would have noticed I told you who some of them are, you were just too distracted with the fact that I was telling you something you already knew, not something new." I stood up and flexed my hands. "Now if you excuse me. I am going to get us some food and you need to think about how you should talk to a lady." I took a step out of my office when I heard Bane call after me.

"I talk to you just fine." I could help but laugh as I closed the door behind me, the smile in Bane's voice was apparent.

I walked into the kitchen to see Azzy waiting my arrival. "It's about time, I've been waiting for you so I can clean this stupid place and leave." I laughed at him.

"You can't talk to me like that." He pretended to be scared.

"Oh, please great master don't hurt me. Don't break my arm!" He stood up and smiled at me. "Piss off, I can talk to you however I like." I laughed at his tone; he always liked to act above me. Something I adored most about him. "I heard you let Bane rip off your mask. Tsk tsk." He shook his head as the food started the sizzle on the stove. "How do they expect us to respect our masters when simple prison men beat them?"

"Excuse me, but last time I checked you were a master too, you dingbat." Azzy turned to look at me, a shocked expression on his face.

"Dingbat? Has your IQ dropped? Are you stupid now?" He howled with laughter as I stared at him blankly, ready to kill him.

"Shut it."

"This is Dingbat shutting it." He cooked in silence again as I sat on one of the counters, aimlessly swinging my feet. "So how is lover boy?"

"He's not my lover." I heard a sigh leave Azzy's body.

"Ray, stop taking things so seriously. Let me try again." I heard him mutter in between sentences, knowing it had to do something with my sass I decided to ignore it. "How is _Bane_?" He dragged out his name, almost mocking my attitude towards him.

"He's fine." Azzy raised his eyebrows; telling me that saying 'he's fine' wasn't enough detail for him. I smiled. "He's strong. He'll make it into the league for sure. He's smart and witty, he doesn't take shit and he'll only tolerate it if he likes you." I couldn't help but grin at the thought of being an exception for that man. Azzy just looked at me and shook his head.

"You're a fool." He laughed at my furious look. He knew, of all people, that I hated being called stupid in any form. "You can't think that you don't care about him. If you do then you are a damn fool." I smiled at his way of not being serious in a situation like this but then quickly frowned as his words sunk in. _Is it that apparent in the way I talk about him that I feel so strongly about him?_ Instantly I thought of my sister and I felt the blackness start to fill me. _She can't see_. "Ray?"

"Huh?" The blackness slowly went away and I was no longer paralyzed by my fear. I looked at Azzy; he looked concerned as he held out the tray with our food. I refused to give him a reason or an excuse. I just quickly left the room as fast as my legs would allow me. He knew that I was scared of my sister but the less Azzy knew about my inner feelings, the less Talia could torture him for if it ever got to that point.

When I returned to my office, I saw Bane reading one of my medical books. "Why are you reading that?" I asked him as I entered from the training room. I placed the tray on the table and grabbed his plate, which was evident by the magnitude of food on the plate compared to the other, and handed it to him. He placed the book on the bed; face down, bending the spine. I quickly grabbed it and closed it. "Get a bookmark, don't bend the spines." He smiled at me.

"Do you have equipment for the training room?" I laughed and nodded.

"Sorry, I never use it so I always forget there's supposed to be things in the room. I will get a league member to fill it when I return our dinner plates. For now, just eat. You must be hungry." His eyes followed me when I didn't sit down at my desk to have dinner right away.

"What are you doing?" He asked me as I stood in front of the sink.

"Taking off my bandages. I hate using utensils when my hands are bandaged, besides they will be healed by now." I quickly unwrapped my hands and then washed the remaining ointment off before I sat down on my chair, resting my plate of food on my lap.

"Not going to eat at your desk?" He asked, watching me patiently. I looked at him, impatient.

"I don't feel like it, now are you going to keep on asking questions or do I have to force feed you your dinner?" Bane just smiled and looked back down at his plate of food and slowly ate in silence.

When we both finished, I took our tray back to the kitchen. As I was about to leave I heard a familiar voice greet me. "Sister, so nice to see you." Talia's tone was sweet, but I knew what it was hiding, what demon laid beneath her disguise. "How have you been?" I felt the emptiness grow inside of me again, but with all of my will I suppressed it, for now.

"I have been okay. You?" Talia smiled at me as I felt a chill run up my spine.

"Sad." He said, pouting. "I have been very sad, and what I need is a sister's love. But you won't ever give that to me, will you?" She walked towards me, stopping a few feet away. "Tell me, did it feel good to finally get revenge on me? Pay me back for taking your 'first love' from you. I love Bane, you cannot take him from me." I didn't say anything. We stood in silence for what seemed like hours, but was only minutes.

"He told me what a whore you were." I looked at her, confused by her words. "Riju, he told me how you two slept with each other almost every day, if not more." She shook her head. "You'll be such a disgrace in our father's eyes now, when I tell him." She smiled a crooked smile. "Besides, he said I was much better than you, eventually I will get Bane the same way."

"You're dumb." I said, flabbergasted by the way she spoke, the way she thought she could take Bane from another; she didn't know him at all. I suddenly felt so sad for him, he cared for a woman who thought of him as every other man who was fueled and persuaded with sex. She glared at me, something we both shared in common was we hated people attacking our intelligence.

"You're so dumb. Bane isn't like that, and I never slept with Riju. Yes, I loved him but that doesn't mean that I slept with him. So either he lied to you or you're lying to me. Either way, it doesn't matter." I hid the pain I felt in my chest at the idea of Riju sleeping with my sister. All I could hope for was that my sister was lying to me. I watched as the rage slowly started to build inside of her and I couldn't help but frown and feel the need to cry; they had slept together.

Using my moment of sorrow to her advantage, I felt Talia jump and shove me down onto the wooden floor. I quickly struggled against her, trying to get her off but she was always better at fighting than I was. She quickly pinned me and with her free arm produced a knife. She held it up to my throat. "You know, I could say you simply slipped. I could make it look like that happened." She whispered as she watched the blade press against my skin, entranced.

I gasped as I felt the pressure of the blade leave my throat and the weight of my sister disappear from on top of me. To my horror, when I looked up I saw Bane towering over me, holding my sister by her neck. He raised her off the ground and when he spoke, there was no room left for anything else but seething anger. "I told you what I would do to you if she hurt her." I heard Talia gasp as Bane tightened his grip around my sisters' throat. _My sister._

"Bane. Stop!" I grabbed his arm but he ignored me, he didn't even acknowledge my attempt to move him. Talia continued to struggle and my cry became louder. "Bane! You're going to kill her!" Tears started to pour out of my eyes. Despite the hatred I had for her, she didn't harm me. I would endure torture my whole life than to have her die on my account. I saw Talia start to weaken and I felt my heart give out. "Bane." I sobbed, not caring to hide my distress. "Please…she's my sister…" I heard a loud thud as my sister collided with the floor. Bane looked at me, his eyes cold and disconnected.

"She wouldn't have spared you the same chance. She would have let you die, I should have done the same to her." He turned and walked away, leaving the room. I felt the fear he desired to give to others, the feeling he spared me until now. The way he spoke, there was no empathy or understanding to his voice, it was empty and angry when he left. Talia started to move on the floor and I pushed my thoughts aside.

I stood and watched her; just because I didn't want her to die didn't mean I wanted to help her. "I hope you remember that I saved your life today." I said, my voice still quivering from the pace of everything that just happened; it was too much to take in. Without saying another word, I turned and left the kitchen, wanting to get back to my office and Bane. Despite what I just saw, I knew I would still feel safe with him around.

When I got to my office, the lights were off. When I turned them on, all I saw was a note on the table. Bane wasn't there. I felt my brows crease as tears started to form in my eyes but I pushed them down. I grabbed the note and quickly read it.

_Rayna, _

_You have been gone longer than expected; I got worried so I went to go look for you. If I am not back when you read this, just stay here. I will be back soon. –Bane_

I felt horrible. I turned off the lights and sat in the dark, my back against my small bed frame. I buried m head between my knees and wrapped my arms around my legs, allowing my hands to run over my neck. Tears started to flood from my eyes as the fear I suppressed moments before, surfaced.

I was terrified, for my own life and for my sisters. I knew if she killed me, Bane wouldn't be happy, but she just pinned me. It wasn't the first time she had pulled a knife on me either, that wasn't what scared me or what gave me this fear. It was the way she looked at my throat, how the thought of slicing it open enticed her, intrigued her. Maybe it was that look that made Bane grab her like he did, she hadn't harmed me yet but she had every intention to. I continued to sob as my mind went back and forth between Bane and Talia until I was too exhausted to think; I just continued to cry.

When I started to calm down I heard the door open and then quickly close. The lights stayed off though and I knew it was Bane who had come into the room. He walked towards me and proceeded to sit down next to me without saying a word; he waiting for me to sit up and look at him before he put his arm around me and pull me close. "It will be okay." He told me, calm and gentle as he always way with me; when it was just him and I. My arms wrapped around his torso as his arm pulled me in closer against his torso. The feeling of his chest rising with each breath soothed me and made me forget about earlier.

"Time for bed Rayna." He stood up and held me in his arms. About to rest me on the cot that I had been sleeping on for weeks, I clung onto his clothes.

"Please don't leave me alone tonight. I—" I cut off my own thoughts. _What did I want?_ I had to make sure that before I asked Bane for what I desired, that it was what I truly wanted from this point forward. "I want you with me tonight." I was scared what those words would bring me; I could only hope that Bane knew the innocent reason for why I wanted him.

"There isn't enough room for us to both sleep on that bed." He smiled at me and put me down on my feet. "Here." He handed he the pillow and blanket that was on bed. He lifted the mattress off and tossed it onto the floor and then he did the same with his cot. I stood still as he grabbed the blanket and pillow from my hands and placed it on our newly made bed. "For tonight." He said, grabbing my hand.

I laid down first and looked up to see Bane start to take off his shirt. "Clothes on." I said quietly. I saw him smile and drop the fabric in his hands. He climbed down onto the bed and laid out an arm, allowing me to move in and lay my head on his chest.

Moments from falling asleep, Bane's voice woke me up. "Thank you." He whispered, I hummed a reply, my tired state not allowing me to form words. "For not thinking I'm a monster for what I almost did to your sister." I wrapped my arm around his torso and hugged him, holding myself against him as tightly as I could. I wasn't able to say anything; I didn't know what the right words to choose would be. I was scared of him in that moment and I was petrified of his strength, but when his arm tightened around my body, I knew he was okay with my silence and I stopped fretting. I knew Bane would have never done that unless I was in trouble or about to be harmed; he was protecting me.

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**I hope you are all enjoying the progression of their relationship just as much as I am right now. I'm sick right now so my mind is kinda foggy from the medicine so I'm not too sure what to say but I hope you enjoyed the chapter and another one will be up soon enough! **

**Thank you again for all the lovely reviews you have all given me so far. It's amazing and I love you all so much for them :D I hope to hear from all (or some) of you and see what you think about the story so far.  
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**As always, thank you for reading and love love!  
**

**Narrie  
**

**P.S. I know Talia is a bitch in this chapter and her actions can be seen at OOC. It will all be explained later and she does get better. I pinky promise :)  
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	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry for the long time in between posts and because this story is slightly shorter than usual but don't worry, it will lead up to a good chapter ^^ I have a couple side projects coming up over the next little while so my update rate may be slightly effected, but most likely not. At this moment this is the only fic I'm writing, all the plot bunnies for my other fic's have disappeared lately (I think it's due to the carnivorous Bane fic bunnies).**

**Thank you as always for everyone's ongoing support with this story! I am glad to see many of you are enjoying reading this story just as much as I have writing it :D  
**

**Enjoy!  
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Chapter Eight

I couldn't sleep that night. All I could see was Talia's face as Bane had her by the throat. It wasn't fair of him to use his strength against her like that, she was defenseless; but then again, so was I when it came to her. I sighed. _She doesn't have any remedies to help with the bruising or the pain._ Slowly and carefully, I crawled out of bed but I still woke up Bane, despite my obvious effort. "Where are you going?" His voice was groggy and his eyes were barely open.

I shushed him and he rested back down against the pillow. "I will be back. I just need some air." I hated lying to him, but it was the only way I could go see my sister without him wanting to come along, and that wouldn't be a good idea at all. I quickly grabbed the balms and ointments that I needed and headed towards my sister's room. Her room was set up like mine except she had a bedroom attached to a training room, since I transformed mine into a medical office.

"Talia?" I called out into darkness as I stood in the training room. I heard slight movement from her bedroom and I took a step forward. The door flew open and the light turned on. I stopped moving and stood still in small amount of light that shone through her room; I felt like I was being interrogated.

"What's that?" She asked, obviously talking about the medicine I held in my hands. "Come to try to kill me again?" My heart sunk.

"Talia…It's medicine. For the bruising and the pain and I—"

"What makes you think I want your help?" Her voice raised in pitch. She was getting angry and I was in dangerous territory but I had to persist. She needed to understand.

"Nothing. You have done nothing in my life to make me think you want my help but I will always offer it. You're my sister Talia." I almost pleaded the fact that she's my sister, hoping she would accept that I was her sibling. "I love you, I can pretend I don't care, but I do, and I always will. You said you needed a sister, I don't know if you were mocking me or lying to me, but here I am. Ready and willing Talia." I opened my arms but dropped them quickly as her gaze did not change on me.

She stood there and watched me, making her decision in her head and for nobody to see. That's how she always thought unless she was trying to intimidate people, then she would speak out loud but it would always be a thought that she had figured out minutes, hours, weeks, months or years before. All you could ever do with Talia was wait until she was ready.

She nodded and turned around, walking back into her bedroom. I reluctantly took my first step but it became easier after that point. "How is he doing?" I looked at her, perplexed, not knowing whom she was talking about. "Bane." She stated, looking at me like I was stupid.

"Oh. He's good; he's working on the master's right now. He goes up against Azzy tomorrow." She nodded. "His scars have healed fine, he doesn't feel the pain too often." I spoke slowly so I could keep as much emotion out of my voice when I talked about Bane as possible. My sister didn't seem to notice, she just nodded again and grabbed the ointment for bruising. When she started to apply it to her neck, I felt little and insignificant. "I'm sorry."

She glanced at me and then looked away. "He warned me, I just never thought he would do it." I looked at my hands and I fidgeted with them. _He didn't think he would ever do that either_. When I looked up at Talia, her eyes were studying me. "Him and I had a conversation the other day, I'm surprised you didn't hear us."

"I was probably asleep." She nodded, accepting that fact as truth.

"Did Bane ever tell you what our conversation was about?" I shook my head. I didn't know what the first part was about but I still remember every word they exchanged when they were in my training room. "Father told me that when he first talked to Bane, they talked about the serum Venom." My heart froze. I knew that stuff; Ra's tried using it to make stronger assassins a long time ago but everyone always died when we injected them with it. "I was trying to convince him not to do it but it seems like father has a pretty good hold on him with the idea. He's enthralled with the idea of being stronger and almost unstoppable. He doesn't believe he will get addicted to it because he, and I quote, 'isn't addicted to morphine, so why would I become addicted to Venom'. He says that you're his savior and if you administer the drug, he won't become addicted."

I could hear the blame in her voice as I became smaller and smaller in her shadow. Venom would kill Bane, it was a substance that was not to be messed with or toyed with but I knew the appeal it would have to him. He would, once again, be the strongest kid in the playground, so to speak, but everyone would fear him. "When did father say the treatment started?" Talia looked at me, concerned.

"He said a few days ago." I shook my head quickly.

"That can't be true I changed his morphine bag just…two—" A gasp broke my sentence and I stood up in haste. "I have to go. I'm sorry Talia." I turned to run but looked back at my sister. "Thank you." I said, sincere with my words. It was the first conversation we have had in my life that didn't result in yelling or me being in pain. She returned my thank you with a smile, more than I could have asked for.

I quickly stalked the halls, moving as fast as I could to get back to Bane. When I finally got back to my office, I threw the door open and Bane bolted upright. He looked alarmed but aware of his surroundings; it was obvious he never went back to sleep since I left. I stalked forward and ripped the IV out of his arm. He looked up at me, not understanding what was going on. I looked angry, and I quickly realized that it looked like I was upset with him. I was mad at him though. I sighed.

I was upset that he would so easily accept a substance he didn't know and he didn't think to check with me what it was either. I could have told him, he had to have known that I was knowledgeable on venom, especially if we had used it on other members before. Unless Ra's was deceiving him, like he did so many, but even if he did influence Bane's decision, he would never admit it to me; it was Bane's own way of protecting me from the truth. It had to be the reason why he didn't tell me.

I ran my hand over his arm, caressing his skin. I didn't understand and I only knew that in time I would find out if his morphine bags were laced with Venom; he would have his withdrawal soon enough. We still had a little more time until morning, I couldn't unnerve him on the day he had his first lesson with Azzy. "Scoot." I waved my hands at him as he nudged over on the bed and I crawled into his warm spot.

"Feel better?" He asked, coming closer to me. His hand ran through my hair and I felt his eyes on me, the warmth from his skin comforted me. I closed my eyes and rested my head against his clothed torso.

"When I forget about one worry, there always leaves room for another." I smiled against his shirt, I felt him give a tiny laugh. "But I feel better now." I looked up at him and saw his eyes, warm and inviting. I liked being this way with Bane, and I knew how much he had to trust me for him to allow himself to be like that around me.

I reached up and wrapped one hand around his neck and placed my lips on the other side. I felt him relax and then tense immediately after. I smiled against his skin and pulled away, hovering my face close to him. His eyes smiled first and then his lips followed, _his lips_. I watched as my fingers traced the surface of his mouth and I saw Bane realize that soon enough, they would be covered. "At least you wont have to see my scars or accidentally kiss them again." I looked up at him, a flash of anger coming over my face at his off comment.

"I never cared about that. I would be fine if your whole face was covered with those scars. I have never cared about what you look like Bane; it was your kindness and the fact that you tried to protect me from fearing things in this world. If you protect me from something you love so much, then I knew I had to be special." I faintly smiled at Bane, memories of when he first came here, when we first started to get to know each other. Images of him convulsing came into view and I cringed at the visual and at the thought of that could be him soon, depending on how bad his withdrawal's are. I felt his hand on my cheek, which forced me to look at him.

"I want to see you happy, and nobody can be happy when they are fearful; not truly." His eyes searched mine, and when I smiled I saw them grow soft. It amazed me how the way he thought could be poetic without him trying. I knew that what he said was his logical thought process just in fewer words but it always made me smile, always made me feel special in his world. I leaned up and kissed his lips lightly and quickly.

"Time to get ready for your lesson today. I will be in here working on your mask." He opened the blankets on my side, allowing me to exit the bed first. When I stood up I watched as he got up and my eyes stayed on the bed he had made for us last night because of the state I was in, not wanting to be alone. "Thank you." He hummed a reply to me as he started to put the beds back to their original state; I couldn't help but smile as he showed he had picked up a habit from me. "For making this last night." He nodded.

"You're welcome." I always grew fonder of him ever time I realized how simple a man Bane could seem to be, pleased with one word answers or sometimes no answer at all, just a nod; he was always thinking though, you could see it on his face. I left to go get breakfast and all the food had been pre-made in large batches and was set up buffet style; it's how we ate when Azzy had to leave the kitchen or go on a mission. When I returned with food, Bane was sitting and reading the same book I had read while he was here.

"Why are you still reading that?" Bane looked up at me, surprised.

"I don't see why it matters why, but I like to read. Having a wider knowledge makes you a better fighter and will help you outsmart your enemy." I couldn't help but nod and agree with him. I passed him his plate and he put my book down, properly this time, and I smiled.

"You train well, puppy dog." I teased him; he just looked up at me and smirked. He grabbed the book and opened it up to a random page and put it back down, bending the spine once more. I laughed and grabbed the book and placed it back on my desk, where I left it originally. "You can't have toys if you can't treat them right."

"If you say so." He went back to eating his plate of food, a small smile in the corners of his lips told me that he wasn't mad at me but he was planning something; I was in for it now. I put our dishes in the sink in my room; I would take them to the kitchen after Bane's first lesson with Azzy otherwise when I returned I would interrupt them.

"Just a warning." I said to Bane as I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him. "Azzy is a bit of a spit fire, so please be…tolerant with him." I smiled up to Bane, hoping it would help persuade him to agree to my request. "He's funny if you allow him to be but he has a very different approach to things. OH and um," I paused for a few seconds, trying to think of a way to explain that Azzy was head of intelligence without really saying it, "well he's really smart… and I guess you could say he has a strong intuition? So if he says something about you that you didn't know anyone else knew, it's not because I told him. He just knows these things, okay?" I smiled and turned him around and pushed him into the training room. "Have fun." I closed the door quickly and leaned against it, letting out a long sigh. Bane meeting Azzy was worse than him meeting my father. I knew what my father would do and how he would act; Azriel was a wild card and that made me nervous.

5 hours had passed and the boys were still in the room working hard and I was designing all the parts I would need to create later tonight in the workshop for Bane's mask. All of the sudden I heard a crash in the room and Azzy yell my name. I bolted upright and ran into the room to see Bane on the floor, his energy was leaving his body and his eyes were growing colder but it was the expression on his face that told me that he was going through withdrawal; the terror and fear I saw on his face was unparallel and sent a chill down my spine. I felt my heart break and sink to the bottom of my empty stomach. "Get him on his back and have his arm out." I called to Azzy as I ran back into my office and grabbed his drip. I ran to his side and slipped the IV into his arm. I grabbed his face and pulled it so his empty eyes were looking at mine.

My fears had come true, my father laced his morphine with Venom and now his body was used to the constant supply it got with his morphine. Tears started to fill my eyes, in moments Bane would either die in front of me or he would come back to me addicted to this serum; a fate worse than death. "Bane, it's okay. Come back to me." My hand ran over his head and I hugged him, holding him close to me as tears ran down my cheeks in streams. "I can't lose you." I whispered in broken words. I sat like that for what seemed like hours, but I felt him grip me and I knew he would be okay, I let out a small gasp of relief.

I pulled away from the embrace I had him in, and I looked at Bane, who simply gave me a weak smile. I could see the tremor in his look; his whole being had been shook by his hallucinations. I moved so that his head was resting on my lap, and I started to run my hand over his head, wanting to soothe him. "It's okay Bane, just rest here okay." Azriel just stood and watched as Bane slowly relaxed against me. "Azzy, can you get him a blanket from my office and then get us all some lunch?" He nodded and walked into my room.

The fear in his eyes made my skin crawl, for something to make Bane feel afraid it had to be terrifying, but he needed to feel safe; I needed to protect him like he always did me. Azriel laid the blanket over Bane but before he left the training room, I asked him for one more favor. "Can you have people stand out in the corridor? Have them stop anyone trying to get into this part of the building. I don't want anyone near here just incase he has dream terrors. He won't be able to stop himself from screaming in that state and I know it would shame him to know I heard him scream, I don't even want to include other people into that equation." I looked down at Bane's sleeping face as I continued to run my hand over his face. I knew Azzy agreed when he left without saying anything, it was only when he disagreed did he say something; another trait of his I was fond of.

What was I going to do? The mix of morphine and venom would kill him eventually, it was too strong for the body at a higher dosage, and to think in a few days he would have gotten a more concentrated dose; he could have died. It explained why he grabbed Talia's throat first before pushing her off, the substance always made its users angrier and prone to becoming more violent. Why was Ra's doing this? Tomorrow I would go talk to him and find out, even though there isn't much I could do. I don't have the resources to guarantee Bane would come out of his Venom withdrawal 100% okay and even then, I couldn't bear to see that look on his face; it destroyed me.

Bane let out a grunt and almost a whimper after. "Shhh." I softened my voice and continued to soothe him. His night terror's had started but his body needed to rest; it was the better alternative to me injecting him with pure Venom, something that could potentially put him into cardiac arrest. I knew from this point forward, Bane would be dependant on this drug and that he would want it, so I would train him how to control himself. It was the only way I could partially counter what this drug would do to Bane, it would make him easily aggressive and spiteful, but I would have to remind him of his soft side, the Bane he always showed me. Ra's wanted to create a beast, a monster, for his army and for his purpose but I wouldn't let the world turn Bane into the monster they all saw him as. He wasn't ready for that yet.

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**The infamous Venom! I think I have the withdrawal symptoms correct xD I'm excited to see what you guys think about how I introduced it and if you think Talia is telling the truth that their father had Bane do it or maybe Bane was the person who requested it? **

**Also because I got a question from someone asking what I mean when I say "hummed a reply." is basically someone saying "Hmmn?" or "Hmm?", it's just easier to write that then break up the flow of what a character is saying by making a new paragraph :)  
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**As always, I love hearing from you all and I honestly read every review everyone posts and they always make me smile :D So keep them coming cause I like smiling! ;)  
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**Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for following it this far!  
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**Love love!  
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**Narrie  
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	9. Chapter 9

**I'm so sorry it took me this long to update! I was going to post this yesterday but right before I did that, I noticed that I could have added an interaction in here that I felt was missing :( So yay for more story but boo for late update! On the plus side though, I did promise a longer chapter which this one is which also factored into the late post but anyways, i'm ranting now.**

**Also I, as always, want to thank everyone who has chosen to follow, favorite and especially those who review! I never thought this story would get this big of a response and it makes me so happy that you are all enjoying this story as much as I am :D  
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**Enjoy!  
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Chapter Nine

"What are you going to do?" Azzy asked me as he leaned against a wall, his plate of food in his hands. "You can't exactly go up to Ra's and accuse him of this. He'll kill you, even if you are his daughter." I wanted to glare at him for stopping my initial plan but he was right. Even if Ra's Al Ghul were my father; he wouldn't allow anyone to address him with such dishonor. If my father did this to him, if Ra's gave Bane the Venom serum, then it was for a reason. I sighed outwardly as my eyes drifted back to Bane, still asleep in my lap.

Throughout the entire time I had been taken care of Bane, I had never watched him sleep; he was so peaceful. It was almost eerie seeing his expressions so relaxed and calm. Bane had always been so serious since I met him and he rarely let that wall down. He was always true to his word, stuck to his opinion and morals, and never said anything twice. When he had decided on something, it was set; so then why Venom? I didn't understand how the man with the peaceful disposition I looked at now could have willingly chosen to have that filth put into his body.

But the Bane I was looking at wasn't the Bane I knew and wasn't the one who would have made that decision. It was the man who fought to protect the innocent, who strived to instill fear in the corrupt till they were submissive to us, to the league and to Bane's purpose. He would do anything it took to make that come true, to make that his reality and the reality of the world we lived in. Even though I wanted to not believe the truth that lay before me, resting in my arms, but I saw how Bane wanted to become that monster, how he wanted to become the beast they all sought after him to be; how he saw himself.

"I don't know." I finally admitted to Azzy, because I didn't. I couldn't go to my sister, she helped me enough already, and I didn't know how to approach it with my father and Bane would be angry if I questioned his actions; he always did. Was I expected to just sit back and pretend to be in ignorant bliss? They all had to know I was no good at that. Then it clicked; my bestie was head of intelligence. Why did I always have to forget that? "Azzy, can you find out?" I looked up at him and saw the smile under his tight blonde curls and bright emerald gold eyes.

"I thought you would never ask." His sly, smooth voice forced a smile on my face. He had his objective and he was already thinking of whom to interrogate, whom to follow, and what to track. I could see the plot growing in his mind. "I will let you know soon. In the mean time, take care of him but we will continue tomorrow." I nodded. Of course they would, Bane wouldn't stop training for a day because of this, he would train all night to make up for lost time if he could and if I allowed.

I felt him stir in my arms as Azzy slammed the door shut, obviously forgetting Bane's condition in the midst of his planning; I had grown to anticipate this behavior from him. I looked down and saw Bane's eyes on mine; I smiled at him and grabbed some water. I forced him to sit up and rest his upper back against my chest. Handing him a glass of water, I ran my hand over his free forearm as he gulped down the liquid. "Feeling better?" He nodded short and quick and then relaxed against me.

"I'm hot." He said, his voice raspy and dry despite the water he just drank. I ripped the blanket off of him but he shook his head, it obviously wasn't enough. I watched as his hands feebly tried to grab his shirt but failed due to his weakened strength. Unlike other times I did not hesitate to remove his shirt; the matter of Bane's comfort was in question and that trumped my own comfort level.

I felt his warm skin collide with mine as his bare back rested against me. I took a sharp breath in as my hand traced a prominent scar that ran all the way down his spine. I felt my hands run over his shoulder blades and up around to his neck, I couldn't help but mindlessly explore his bare chest, bare back and enormous muscles; I felt my heartbeat quicken and his voice didn't help. "Is this what you always do to your patient's to relax them?" I felt myself blush a shade close to scarlet; I had never done this with another individual in my life.

"If they are not content with silence or conversation then I sing to them, usually lullaby's I remember singing to myself as a child, or I read stories." Bane let out a thoughtful sigh as he rested his cheek against me, his eyes closed.

"I have never had a lullaby sung to me." I smiled at his obvious request. I started to think of all the song's I knew and which would be a good one to hear for a first lullaby.

"I will sing you Golden Slumbers. I can't remember where I heard it first but it was one of my favorites to sing to myself." I felt him nod against me and I knew he had no objectives to my song choice. I cleared my lungs, an unsettled feeling started to grow, as I was about to sing for Bane, like I was almost nervous. I just had to remind myself that I had sung this lullaby thousands of times before, to patients and my younger self.

_Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,  
Smiles await you when you rise.  
Sleep pretty baby,  
Do not cry,  
And I will sing a lullaby._

_Cares you know not therefore sleep._  
_While I watch over,  
You do not weep  
Sleep pretty loved one,  
Do not cry,  
And I will sing a lullaby._

He hummed against me, feeling the vibrations his throat and mouth gave off against my skin sent butterflies loose in my stomach. "Write me one." He asked of me and I let out a light laugh.

"Lullaby's can be hard to write sometimes." I felt him smile; he was about to tell me he didn't care.

"Time is of no issue. I look forward to hearing it one day." We sat in silence for a while longer, my hand still mindlessly running over Bane's shaved head as he closed his eyes and rested against me. I tried to think of the first verse to his lullaby but everything that I thought of didn't fit him. A lullaby on its own didn't really fit Bane, he wouldn't ever want to be seen to others as someone who would need or like to be sung to or comforted; I could see that if he was ever in a role of leadership he would act then as my father does now. So how do I compose a lullaby for a man who isn't fit for one? My heart sank in my chest as the idea that I didn't really know who Bane was came into mind. I couldn't wait for Azzy to come back; I couldn't sit in the dark any longer.

"Bane?" He opened his eyes, letting me know I had his full attention. I took in a deep breath before I asked my next question, I felt scared because I didn't know how he would react and afraid because I didn't know if I was right or wrong about my accusations. "How did you find out about Venom? Why did you ask my father for it? You knew that he would never refuse a brother from becoming stronger, even if it's through substances with an ill history. You used him against his own ambitions without him knowing it, you kept my sister in the dark and me. Why? What did you gain from doing this?" He lay still against me for minutes, his breathing steady as he focused on a corner in the room and stared at it, thinking.

Finally he sat up and turned around to look at me, letting out a groan at the obvious pain it put on his body but when he finally met my gaze he looked tired. "I read about it in your old doctoral note book about all your old patients and when Ra's al Ghul came to talk to me for the first time, I asked him about it. I told him that I wanted it so that I could become even stronger, I knew I would become an asset to him at that point." His eyes met mine and locked them in place. "If I'm an asset then he cannot exile me or not let me pass the masters. I will be another step closer to what I want." I studied his face, I didn't understand where he was going with this and I was slightly pissed that he read my notes without telling me or asking me. Typical Bane, thinking everything is his; nothing was worth personal possession.

"Which is what? Protect the innocent and bring down the corrupt? I know, but Venom won't help you do that Bane! It will kill you! That was a minor withdrawal. You were lucky with the symptoms you got. I…" I remembered the feeling of almost losing him, the hopelessness I felt as I saw him slowly slip away from me.

"I knew I would not die. And it get's me closer to you." He left no room for me to argue, it was his way of telling me to stop testing the waters. I knew he didn't like having his decisions questioned but part of me knew that he understood my worry; that's why he humored me with an answer in the first place. I looked down at my hands and I started to fidget with them, he was always good with bittersweet compliments. Part of me was giddy that he did this to be closer with me but the rest of me hated him for doing it in the first place. I would sacrifice what we had now if that meant he would never have that substance or access to it for the rest of his life. But he didn't understand that, he saw Venom as a villain's steroids, as the catalyst he needed to ignite the fire that would burn down the world he hated so much.

I stood up, furious. "Well if this is what you want then I have to get working. You will need a higher dosage of Venom in your body to get you back to your normal strength, let alone a higher strength. You can't have it laced with morphine either and I refuse to inject you with straight venom." I heard him laugh.

"Is this your way of telling me you won't help me with this?" I turned around and glowered at him. I hated his smugness at this moment; it set my teeth on edge and made me want to smack him upside the head for his stupid comment.

"You take advantage of my kindness just as you took advantage of my father's ambition, Bane. I will help you because I care about you and I cannot stand to have you die in my arms! So no, this is my way of telling you that by tomorrow morning you will wear a mask. Your face will be forever covered and you can finally become the monster you so desire to be." I slammed my office door and locked it behind me. Bane could go fuck himself for as much as I cared at this point. If he were in here, I'm afraid I would try to attack him out of my fury. I had never felt this angry before, this betrayed. I saw my hands shake as I tried to gather my blueprints but my hands fumbled at each paper. Growing more frustrated at my helpless state, I ran my hands over my desk and pushed everything off of it. I collapsed to the ground as I gave up trying, I didn't know what to do anymore.

I wanted to stop, to not enable Bane with using this toxin but I couldn't watch him die from withdrawal, so my other option was to slowly watch this drug destroy him? Slow prolonged death verses a short and painful one. I couldn't handle it; I couldn't take the thought that no matter what, this would all end in tragedy. Tears started to stream from my eyes as I held my face to my knees and cried. I made no efforts to stifle the pain you could hear with each cry I made, and if Bane could hear me, even better; maybe then he would understand how his actions affected others.

"Rayna?" It was Bane, calling for me at my door. I didn't want him in here, I didn't want to have him soothe me or tell me it would be okay because it wouldn't be.

"Ray. Let me in." It was Azzy this time, why was he here already? Slowly I got up, tears still forming in my eyes. I opened the door and made room for Azriel to walk through but I started to close the door when Bane moved forward. I looked up at him and saw the pain and confusion in his eyes; he didn't like the fact that he had made me this upset. I gave him a cold and dejected stare as I closed the door in front of his face. I felt Azzy embrace me and I couldn't help but let out a tiny sad and halfhearted smile. If anyone here knew how I felt, it was him.

One of the first patients we tried using Venom on had been Azriel's lover so I knew he understood the despair I felt knowing what would happen to Bane if anything ever went wrong. "I asked him, I'm sorry. I couldn't wait." I felt him nod and I spoke in broken English.

"So he told you that he asked your father?" I nodded and I heard Azzy laugh. "Well that's a sweet gesture." He paused, I could feel his heartbeat slightly quicken. "It was your father, hun. He ordered the Venom and he had someone send it in the morphine bags, pre-mixed. Bane wouldn't have even been conscious at the time he would needed had to place the order for it to arrive when it did, shipment takes two weeks minimum." I shook my head. Why would Bane lie to me? Azzy answered my question before I could even ponder the possible answers, as if he knew my inner thoughts.

"Bane lied to protect you from hating your father Rayna. A noble act if you think about it and you know it's true. I told you the truth because I had to, that doesn't mean I wanted to. I know telling this to you will make you strongly dislike your father, one of the few people who've been kind to you your whole life. We're both just trying to protect you." I pushed Azzy off of me, I was done with people trying to protect me; I was pissed. I stalked forward to the door and threw it open and looked at Bane, still standing where I saw him last.

"I am tired." I said, my voice dripping with fury. "I am tired of people thinking I need protection. I am no small, dainty female who cannot take care of myself. Stop trying to hide the fucking truth from me and treat me like I'm no child. Both of you." I looked at Azzy. "Or else you will both lose me." I stared at Bane now; he knew that he was the main reason for my anger. "And you, how _dare_ you make me feel betrayed by you. How _dare_ you make me feel like this," I pointed to my face, at my obvious tear stains and puffy eyes, "over a lie?" I paused.

"Never lie to me again Bane. This is the only time I will tell you that. Never lie to me." He gazed back at me and nodded once. That was the only response I would get from him. I turned away from them both and grabbed the blueprints I had made earlier that were now scattered all along the floor. "I will be making this all night long. Make sure to eat and rest. If I hear that you two are training, there will be nowhere you two could hide in this universe, where I couldn't find you and kill you." With that, I walked out of my office and towards the workshop my father had created for crafting weapons.

I tried to shut my mind off as I worked but it was impossible. Thoughts of my father ran through my mind, flashes of anger, sorrow and misunderstanding feelings came over me as I thought of what I would say to him, what I could do, if anything, to make this all stop. My father knew how I felt about Bane, so why do this to me? Could he not see past what he had to do as a leader? My breath shuddered; this day had left me broken and vulnerable. All the worry and distress I had been through in one evening was draining and left me with no more energy to think about my father anymore. My mind slowly emptied as I continued to work throughout the night.

Finally done making the components to Bane's mask, I cleaned up and walked towards the door. I saw my father standing in the doorway. I felt anger start to grow as adrenaline started to power my exhausted body. "I have nothing to say to you." He put out his hand and stopped me from leaving the room.

"Rayna, you must understand why I had to do it." I shook my head, tears starting to form in my eyes. I didn't want to cry, but between my mental exhaustion and all the stress I had that day, how could my father even think I would possibly understand why he did what he had done. My whole day was about me trying to 'understand' why people did anything. I was tired of it; why couldn't people just tell me why instead of forcing me to guess. I had already wrongly accused one person today, and at the thought of Bane, I felt my heart sink deep into my stomach.

"How can I understand? You're my father, the only person who has shown me compassion my entire life yet you bring the world around me crashing down with one action." I paused, my father tried to use this moment to talk but I interrupted him before he could. "Do not dare tell me that you did not think of what this would do to me." I glared at my father through watery eyes. I refused to let tears fall; Ra's did not deserve my grief.

"Bane should have died down in that prison with that disease. There is something about him that makes him naturally stronger, which led me to feeling he could survive Venom. You know that we will do whatever it is to make a person the strongest they can be. This is what me must do for Bane." It was obvious that ambition blinded my father; Ra's only saw the power he could have with Bane a part of the Brotherhood, but he underestimated the will I had to stop him from doing that.

"So you did all of this on a _feeling_?" I scoffed with anger. "You should know me better than this father. I would never accept that petty excuse for a reason to dismiss your actions. I will never let that happen." I glared at him until he let down his arm, allowing me space to move past him.

"You know you will have to put his mask on soon." I walked by him but stopped as he gave me another reason to hate him.

"I know. I'm doing it in an hour." I didn't move an inch as I spoke; I looked in the direction I meant to walk. I heard my father let out a small sigh.

"You know what that means then, right?" I felt the anger inside of me. How could I not know what the mask would bring? I had no words for my father so I continued to walk down the hall. I heard him call after me. "I will be there in an hour." I didn't care.

When I arrived back into my office, I was feeling tired and exhausted and I only desired to fall asleep on my cot. "Rayna?" I heard Bane's voice call out for me in the dark. Part of me didn't want to answer him, I was still angry and upset with him but I knew that my anger wasn't enough for me to ignore him.

"What?" I placed the individual pieces that would create his mask on my desk. They would be where I needed them for later today. What he said next though, I wasn't expecting.

"I'm sorry." I stopped what I was doing and looked at the direction his voice came from. Part of me didn't believe what I was hearing. "I should have talked to you first and I am sorry I hurt you like that but I will not stop. You must accept this." I let out a light growl as the anger started to rise in me again. "You once told me that if it meant me loving you, that I would hurt you sometimes or I would make you cry at others. I have accepted this. Sometimes we must accept the truth that we wish wasn't there." I thought of the moment when I knew Bane wanted to become a monster. I thought of the ugly truth I had to swallow then, it felt like a lump in my throat, like the truth was too big to accept at once. "You should accept the fact that you will worry about me and hate me for these decisions but I know what my body can endure."

I shook me head, I didn't have to accept anything if I didn't want to. I heard him get up off of his bed, his feet lightly touching the ground as he walked towards me. "You will worry, fret and hate my decisions but still support them because that is what you do when you love someone. Much like me, you don't want to see the person you love hurt, but know that I am telling you the truth when I say that Venom will not kill me." He paused as the words 'when you love someone' repeated in my mind. "Because I have you."

Why did he say that I loved him? Did I? I stared back at him, wanting to cry, not knowing what to think anymore. I didn't want to lose him and the thought of him not being here with me brought me to this point, I knew it did. That's why I was mad at him, because he didn't understand the gravity of his decision, but he did and that's why he was doing this. To show me that he understood, going into this decision, what it would mean to me and how it would affect me but he still did it anyways. But there was still the question; did I love him? I felt his callused hand rest against my cheek and I couldn't help but close my eyes and smile.

"I do not say this for you to answer." I let out a small laugh. Of course he doesn't, he said all of this to me because of how angry I got at him earlier. He wasn't keeping me in the dark anymore, he wouldn't lie and he wouldn't keep secrets and that's what his actions told me while his words told me more. I felt the anger leave me as the Bane I knew came back to me, but I knew it was too late for he wouldn't be with me for long. The mask had to go on in less than a hour if Bane wanted to be ready to train and he had to be.

I raised my fingers to touch his face, run my hands over the parts that I would never feel again after this moment, the areas of his face that would be covered by his mask.. His lips would never touch mine again; I would never feel their softness and their gentle graze across my skin. His face slowly lowered to mine as he pressed his lips against my cheek, moving to a new place every time they touched my skin. Slowly his mouth traced my jaw until they met my chin, and then ever so gracefully he placed his thumb on my lips and lowered my face, so my gaze met his in the dark. I could feel my insides tremble as we stood, staring at the other shrouded in the blackness of the room, I couldn't see his face or his eyes but I knew he could see me and he was watching me intently. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to subdue the craving I felt for his touch, for his embrace and for his tender lips to kiss mine.

His thumb began tracing the outline of my upper lip and then my lower. I heard him smile as he pulled his thumb away and I opened my eyes, a confused look in them; it was obvious I was expecting something more. I felt his breath on my face, I could sense his lips were close but before mine could touch his the door to my office opened and the lights turned on. Ra's al Ghul cleared his throat at the position Bane and I were, faces almost touching. It was time; my father was here to help me with the operation of putting on Bane's mask.

Bane started to pull away from me but I didn't care at this point. If any of us were allowed to kiss the other and not fear what my father would do, it would be his daughter. I was still angry with my father and I wouldn't let his rude and ill timed entrance stop me from kissing Bane's lips one last time. I grabbed Bane's neck and pulled him back down to me as I placed my mouth against his, my eyes forming tears behind closed lids; I would remember this moment for the rest of my life. I released Bane and he pulled away from me. He looked at me with shock and awe in his eyes as he smiled at my courage. I knew my father would have smiled too, but we were in the room with Ra's, who just watched me with steady eyes.

"Time to get on the table Bane." Ra's spoke after a moment of silence. "This is going to hurt and it will take awhile to get used to, but you will wake a Brother of the League of Shadows. I have seen you train and I have seen your desire to fulfill our destiny. This operation is the final step for you to become one of us, but know that up to this point of your life, before we carried you through those doors, everything before that does not matter. It is merely what brought you here. This is your initiation and if you survive, then we will invite you into our family." I watched Bane as his gaze followed Ra's. He took in every word he said, his chest rising slowly and evenly with each breath. Bane was ready, this is what he had been preparing for and even in his weakened state, something told me that a man with his persistence would wake up after.

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**Let the transformation commence! - insert evil laughter here -**

**Also, the lullaby Golden Slumbers isn't the beatles song, it's a lullaby my mom used to sing to me when I was a kid and if you want to hear the tune of the song or how i pictured Rayna singing it, go to Youtube and search "Golden Slumbers" and find the video by Swanlilly.  
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**Well I look forward to seeing what everyone thinks of this chapter. I personally like it, but just because I like something doesn't mean everyone will. Haha ^^  
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**As always, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my newest installment! I hope you all enjoyed it and I look forward to hear what you all have to say!  
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**Love Love!  
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**Narrie  
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	10. Chapter 10

**I'm so sorry for the long wait! I think this is the longest I have taken to write a chapter but I got super busy on the weekend and I got sucked in to a fanfiction story "Vow to Protect". It's so goooood though, so I didn't mind at all!**

**Second note, HOLY PANCAKES BATMAN! I have over 100 reviews and favorites and over 200 followers *girly shrill* Thank you thank you thank you! Honestly, I never thought this would happen so since it's chapter 10, I thought I would add some extra length onto the story and to just show that I love you all so very much!  
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**I hope you enjoy this chapter! and I'm sorry in advance if I get the construction of Bane's mask incorrect and if anyone knows the exact way it's put on then let me know. I just kinda studied what the mask looked like and built my theory off of that . But that's what FanFiction's are for!  
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**Enjoy!  
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Chapter Ten

"We can sedate you if you want. The initial pressure on your scars will be extremely painful." As I predicted, Bane shook his head. I sighed at his obvious pride and walked over to my desk. I gathered all that I would need to put on his mask, grabbing the components that I had worked on all night and a soothing balm; I would help relieve his pain somehow. I placed all the items I needed on a tray on wheels and rolled it over to where Bane sat.

On his face, I lightly dragged my fingers along the parts that the mask would cover. "It's going to be wrapping around here and because I'm not securing it to your skin, it has to be tight so your vaporizer doesn't shift. You won't be able to take it off for a few months." I felt him stiffen as he processed my words. It wasn't noticeable to my father, but I felt his muscles contract. "That is how long you will have to be in-taking Venom for you to hit your peak strength. If you stop breathing it for a minute, it will throw your cycle off. You were only on this at a lesser dose for two days and you went into withdrawal within five hours. Eventually that will happen within minutes."

I started to put the balm on his skin; he looked at me, almost threatening my actions. He didn't want to look weak in front of Ra's, he didn't think the pain relief was necessary but he wouldn't tell me that outright either. He knew that in this situation, I was his superior and when it came to league matters, like his initiation, he was to treat me so. "It will help with the movement of the mask on your skin for the first time. Think of it as lubricant." I heard my father shift his weight for the first time.

"Very good idea Rayna." I heard his attempt to mend what had been done. The proud tone in his voice for my thorough thoughts, my kind thinking, and my compassion for those I cared for. He knew what his words would make me think, he knew it would remind me that even though I felt betrayed by him, he was right. Bane wouldn't die and this was the only way he would be able to stay with the league. My father had to be Ra's in order to save me from losing Bane. I silently cursed my hot head and made a mental note to try and figure out a way to get myself out of that mind state sooner next time.

Once the ointment was applied to the necessary places on Bane's face, I went to the sink to rinse my hands. Neither of the men in the room made any noise, I could only imagine what they were saying with their eyes to each other behind my back though. Both Bane and my father knew how to command others with their gaze; a skill I could only hope to learn one day but I think it's something that comes with the natural ability to lead.

I knew Bane would become a leader one day, maybe even a master if he stayed with the league long enough. I often thought of a day when he will convince me to leave, I smiled at the hopeless romantic wish. I always fantasized about the silliest of things when I was mentally exhausted. I could barely understand where I was getting the energy to stay awake and moving at this moment. I dried my hands and walked back to my tray, grabbing the back of the mask piece, as it was all one solid material, with the tubes that would hold the Venom already constructed into the piece. It was the securest way I could have made it; I had to make sure it wouldn't be easily ripped out. I slowly attached the top strap that was meant to go over his head to the mouthpiece.

"Father, can you come here please." Thankfully, Ra's understood that since I was the doctor and this was my work space, I would need to ask him to help and he was allowing of me to request him to do things, expecting nothing different than what I would tell him to do; I just had to make it sound like a request. "Hold the back of his mask here, please." I gently placed Bane's mask at the back of his head, holding it in place gently; I was going to avoid causing him as much pain as possible. My father nodded and replaced my hands with his, allowing me to grab the vaporizer and move it over Bane's head, making sure the strap it was attached to fell in place on his face.

"Hold this." I said to Bane as I placed the vaporizer over his mouth. "When I connect these two straps," I grabbed the bands that where going to fasten his mask, "to your mouthpiece, the venom will be released instantly. There will be the initial shock to your system because of the higher, and now more concentrated, dose but you just have to remember to breath slowly and steady. Okay?" He nodded. I hesitated before pulling the binds towards the rest of his mask. "This is going to hurt." He blinked slowly, as if telling me it would be okay. I gave a small smile, one that he would only recognize; I knew Ra's was watching.

I pulled hard and saw Bane's body tense even though his posture didn't move in the slightest. I have seen him in pain before, multiple times, so I could tell when he was hiding it from everyone else. Quickly, I used all of my strength to connect the last two straps and when I felt them secure in, I heard Bane breath in through the mask. It shocked me at first, it sounded mechanic and inhuman but I saw the relief in his eyes. He was doing as I said, breathing slowly and steadily but his eyes stayed on me. I knew he was watching for my reaction.

At first I didn't show any change, I just watched his chest rise and fall at a steady pace, trying to get used to the sound. I couldn't show my fear or the fact that I felt distant to the voice, I had to show that nothing had changed because, in reality, it hadn't. It was just the contraption that made that sound, it wasn't Bane. I smiled at him and put my hand on his forearm, I knew that would reassure him. "You did great." I heard my father clear his throat and I pulled my arm away. This was it, this is why I didn't want him to ever have to wear the mask; he was now part of the brotherhood.

"Bane." The mechanical breathing filled the silence as he continued the breathing ritual I told him to do. "You have passed your initiation, you are now part of the League of Shadows." I watched as his eyes brightened at the words, I knew he was happy. I knew Bane didn't see the missions as a potential threat, he didn't understand the dangers of what his new title brought; he only saw them as thrills. This now meant he would be going on missions, dealing with insubordinate contacts and doing these things with other people of the league but not me, I would always be left back here to await their safe arrival back home. "You will be situated with your own room, Azriel will show you to it when you are done training. For now, put on a brother's clothing and prepare for another lesson. I will see you in a few days." Ra's left the room, leaving Bane and I alone.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you." He shook his head; I saw the smile in his eyes. I felt a sudden sadness rush over me as I remembered what his smile looked like, the perfect curve and each one slightly different depending on his mood or what we were talking about. I felt him grab my shoulders, holding me in one place.

"It is time for you to sleep." His voice was alarming and I felt my body stiffen to my shame. Bane's grip became loose and when I looked at his eyes, I saw sadness in them. He was afraid that the mask would change how I saw him and how I reacted to him, I could tell. I smiled halfheartedly and ran a hand over his bicep. I nodded slowly and turned to walk towards my bed.

"I could sleep for a few hours, but wake me up for lunch." I saw the smile in his eyes again as he brought the blanket over my body.

"Of course." I heard the raspy robotic voice say back to me. I would have to get used to that noise, I couldn't allow it to scare me like that anymore. I fell asleep before I could count to two, my exhausted body finally getting the rest it needed.

_When I woke up from my slumber, I stretched my body; it felt like I had been curled up in the same position for days. I listened to hear Bane and Azriel training but I didn't hear a word, not even the soft sound of feet hitting the floor or the mechanical sound of Bane's breathing. I heard nothing._

_I felt my heart leap out of my chest as I stood up all too fast. I braced myself against the wall, as I felt light-headed from my quick movement. Where was Bane? I walked into the training room but the lights were off. I scowled at the obvious fact that he didn't wake me up after I went to sleep. I walked the halls, looking for Azzy or Bane but I couldn't find anyone. Nobody was training, or in the mess hall or in their rooms, everywhere I had looked I found nobody._

_I eventually found my way into the main room of the league. It's where the main doors enter to, it's where most of the initiations happen and it had to be where everyone was. I opened the double doors and stopped in my tracks at what I saw. It looked exactly how it did when Riju had just come back from a mission with my sister; even my sister was wearing the same clothes. Was this some kind of sick joke?_

_There was a man who was kneeling in front of my father, he was obviously requesting something big from him if it required everyone to be here, but I still didn't understand why I wasn't awoken for this. I watched the man who was in front of my father, something about his was oddly familiar but I couldn't place my finger on it._

"_And why should I allow you to marry my daughter?" I felt dizzy as my father's words filled the hall. This was all too familiar._

"_Because I will take care of her." I knew that voice. "I will protect her." I felt my heart give out. It was Bane, that man's voice was Bane's. I felt like screaming but I couldn't make a sound, my mouth opened but no noise came from it. In silence, I panicked trying to get their attention. Flailing my arms but nobody saw me or acknowledged me. They all just watched my father and Bane interact._

"_Father." Talia walked forward to stand beside Bane. "This man saved me. He is the reason I even stand before you. If this is the only thing he asks of you for saving your only daughters life—" I saw Ra's smile and nod his head, interrupting my sister's speech._

"_Very well, let it be so. You two shall be wed." The room filled with cheers as tears started to roll down my eyes. I didn't understand what was happening but I wanted it to stop. This wasn't right, but I stopped thinking as I saw Talia and Bane kiss out of joy of the new announcement. They looked happy and overjoyed, something I had never seen them be. Talia turned around and looked in my direction, nobody was here except for myself but I had been invisible and mute this whole time; she couldn't have noticed me. But I saw her smile and wave at me as I felt cold and empty feeling come over my body within seconds._

I bolted upright in cold sweat, feeling the urge to scream and cry. _It was only a dream_. I focused on steadying my breathing as I closed my eyes. "Only a dream—"

"What was?" I heard Bane's robotic voice come from the doors between my office and my training room. I looked up at him and I saw his brow's crease. "I came to wake you up." I slowly got out of my cot and stretched my body. "You can sleep longer—" I shook my head, interrupting his sentence.

"No, no thank you. I don't care to sleep unless I can't dream and nobody can promise that." I walked past him, dragging my feet in a sluggish way. I sat on the stairs leading into the training room and rested my body against the frame of the door. "I will sit here, you continue training." Bane's breathing filled the silence; I couldn't help but smile at the sound. It was something I would have to get used to, but I saw myself already growing fond of it.

"Alright." He finally said after trying to decide if he would press the issue any further and obviously deciding not to. He walked past me and back to where Azzy was. It looked like they were learning how to mix explosives.

"You're mixing explosives in my training room?" I raised my voice and Azzy just looked over at me and smirked.

"Hello to you too." His smirk turned into a grin. "And if you can't be quiet then you can't watch. Make your choice." I scowled at him and just crossed my arms and rested back against the frame. I mindlessly watched them work, still too tired to focus on one thought for too long. I found myself being fascinated with the lining of their clothing, or the movement of their hands. Slowly my eyelids started to droop and covered me in darkness as I fell back asleep against the frame of the door.

"_Rayna, time to wake up." Bane grabbed me by my shoulders and forced me into a sitting position. I looked up at him, still slightly asleep. I rubbed my eyes and started to nod. I started to turn around and walk into my office but Bane gripped my arm and stopped me from moving forward. "We sleep in an actual bed tonight." He looked at me, still holding my hand. "Come." Releasing my hand, Bane turned around and started to walk out into the hallway._

_I hurried to catch up with him so I could follow Bane to wherever he cared to take me. "Are you wanting us to stay here from now on?" I stopped walking; shocked at the question I had just let slip through my filter. It was bold of me to assume that we would be staying together; Bane hadn't really done anything to tell me different though. He turned to look at me, letting his head fall slightly to the side._

"_For now. You may stay here when I am not here if you like." I felt my expression leave my face as my lips turned into a solid line and my brows creased. What did he mean by saying 'for now'? "Your father is sending me on a mission tomorrow already. They need to set a contact straight and he thinks I will be the best person for the job." Bane answered my question that played in my head, but I almost wished he hadn't. I felt my insides tremor at the idea of Bane already leaving here for missions._

"_A—and who are you going on this mission with?" I stuttered as I spoke, my voice meek and trembling. I already knew the answer and even though I didn't want to hear it, I had to. I had to hear him say her name, for it to make this all real._

"_Talia." Bane's eyes watched me as a familiar emptiness started to grow inside of me. I felt my eyes glaze over as my mind went into shock, not knowing what to do. If Talia wasn't successful with appealing to Bane's growing dark nature this mission, she would eventually get to him on the second or third. It was just a matter of time._

I was startled awake as my body slammed against the floor of my office. I groaned from the sudden pain and the fact that I had, yet again, my own form of a night terror. I hated it when I didn't get any sleep, I didn't have the energy to worry about what gave me anxiety while I was awake so my subconscious forces me to deal with it when I sleep. One thing was definite though; I couldn't ignore the messages my dreams sent me.

I got up and saw both Bane and Azzy looking at me with curious eyes. I waved a hand casually at them. "Don't mind me, I'm going for a walk." I strode past them, putting on my best fake smile. I saw Bane could see through it but decided not to say anything for now; it just meant I would have to prepare myself to explain this all to him later. Walking the halls I thought of the smile I had seen on Talia face in my dreams, the smugness she had, the assured sense of entitlement she showed me with her gaze. It sent chills down my spine as it reminded me of the Talia I had grown up with, but she was different now. I had to keep thinking that.

I knocked on my father's door, hesitating before the first knock if I wanted to go through with my actions or not. "Ra's al Ghul, may I have the honor of an audience with you?"

"Come in." Ra's called after me. When I entered the room he was alone, sitting on the floor with a cup of tea in his hands. "Care for a cup?" I smiled and nodded. I could use the caffeine. I sat across from him as I watched him carefully pour me a hot cup of tea. When he handed it to me, I held it in my hands and breathed in the steam, feeling myself relax. "So what brings you to me when you're already so exhausted from the day and it cannot wait till tomorrow?"

I smiled but it quickly faded as I stared at the cup of hot tea in my hands. I had to think of a way to word my request, I had to leave no room for my father to even doubt I wasn't ready. I took a deep breath in and looked at Ra's with steady and calm eyes. "I want to become a true member of the league." He watched me as I spoke, obviously looking for any slight quiver in my stare or posture. He was realizing that for the first time, I came here to talk to Ra's al Ghul and not my father.

"And why should I do that?" Ra's asked me. I had to hide my smile; the fact that he would even ask me this question meant he was already considering it as an option.

"I'm a master already, I'm smart, I'm able to work quick on my feet, able to make quick and snap judgments and I'm not afraid to lead men into battle. I've—" I stopped as I started to plead. I felt like I was little again and explaining to my sister why I should be trained with her too, having to defend myself with listing off my qualities; I was never that good at it. I steadied my voice before continuing to speak. "I've read about all of your missions and all of the big missions that the league has executed. I know all of the strategies and I would even make hypothesis on other options they had to successfully finish the job. I can do this, I am finally ready." Ra's let out a soft hum as he thought my words over. I looked back down at my tea, as the silence grew heavier. Thoughts of doubt ran over my mind but I knew I had to stay confident; I couldn't let Ra's think that me not becoming an assassin for the league was an option.

"Why the change? You have been happy being the doctor for us and do you know how hard it will be to get another member trained to your skills? What solution do you have for that?" I smiled, I could hear the hope that he would catch me off-guard with these questions. I knew my father would be looking for the smallest excuse to say no to me; my answers had to be perfect.

"You can easily get an outside doctor in here. They will be better trained than me and up with modern practices. You have many contacts at your disposal, there shouldn't be an issue securing one of those to come here. They don't have to be up to speed with league affairs either until they prove themselves. There are ways to keep them in the dark." I took a deep breath as I prepared to answer the next question. I had my answer ready, it was the reason I was here but I didn't know if it was an acceptable answer for Ra's though.

"As for why…well I'm just tired of it all. I'm tired of being the last person to be there before someone takes his or her last living breath. I tired of the death that leaves me feeling like I could have done something to save them, always something more. But do not get me wrong, it is not death that bothers me, I have seen it too much for it to bother me but I can't take it on my conscious anymore. I am ready to help fulfill your destiny. I am ready to swear my mind, body and soul to your cause, to help rid this world of the corrupt souls." I heard my father smile as I felt familiar hands on my shoulders. I was staring at my tea again, watching the steam slowly rise from the liquid and quickly disappearing.

"And what if I am not ready to have you do that?" I looked up at my father and smiled.

"That's not to be factored into your decision because that's your choice, not mine." He smiled at me but mine faded. "Besides, I have to do this father. I can't stay here while Bane goes on missions with Talia for months on end. God knows she's going to ask you to—"

"She already has." I felt my heart sink. _Of course she had._ I fell further into my sadness as the thought that my sister had never changed slipped into my mind.

"Even more reason then. You know I can do it, send me on simple missions first. Give me a test to prove to you I can do it." He squeezed my shoulders and sat back down in front of me.

"It's not a question of if or when you can do it Rayna. If this is what you truly want, as a father I have no right to deny it from you. Just like I have no right to deny Talia of her wishes. But what I fear is not that you cannot be an assassin, but that you will like it, that it will change you." He paused as he looked into his own tea. "When you kill a person for the first time, when you take their life with your own weapon, it will change you. You will not be innocent, you will have blood on your hands and you have to be ready to do that." He looked up at me, staring. "You will not be allowed to come to me or Bane and cry about it. I am telling you that now." I nodded. If that's what it will take, then I would do it. I heard my father sigh.

"Very well. You will leave tomorrow on your first mission with Azriel and his group. You will be going to Gotham to talk to our contact. Follow up with how our plan is to destroy that city is coming along. It's in the starting stages but that part of a plan is crucial. Come back from the mission alive and you will be a true member of this league." I had to suppress the urge to leap over the teapot and hug my father but that would just result with hot tea all over both of us. Instead I stood up and bowed deeply to my father.

"Thank you Ra's al Ghul. Your kindness is unparallelled." He inclined his head slightly and nodded my dismissal. As I walked to halls back to my office I thought of what my father said about not giving his daughters what we wished for. I knew that Talia would go on missions with Bane and I knew I couldn't stop that, I just had to be a little creative in thinking of a way to go along with them. I wouldn't mind if Talia tagged along on missions, she would be a great asset to a team; I would just want Bane there to stop her from trying to kill me, if those were even still her intentions. I let out a heavy sigh as my hands clasped on the door leading to my training room.

I could still hear Bane and Azzy talking but when I swung open the door they fell silent and watched me. I smiled as I greeted them. "Great news!" I exclaimed, closing the door. "I'm going to become a full-fledged member. I'm going on a mission starting tomorrow." Azzy ran up to me and hugged me, giving me his congratulations but when my eyes met Bane's all I saw was confused anger and for some reason, I was afraid.

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**Dun Dun Dunnnnnnn. Bane's not happy! I wonder why? :D I hope you all enjoyed this chapter though! I know it was a bit weird with her dreams but I totally get what happened to Rayna all the time. If I don't get enough sleep then I have night terrors because my mind will eventually just hit the off switch if I'm exhausted enough. xD **

**I have the next few days off so I should be updating back on schedule. On top of being super busy this whole weekend, the person who lives above me keeps on letting their alarm go off at 7am and the bass is so loud that my walls shake and it wakes up all of my roommates -.- It's horrendous. But anywho, enough about my worries!  
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**Also! If some of you also ready "Vow to Protect" by Packersfan12 then you know that she was lovely enough to mention my story in her A/N so of course I had to go read that story, I don't mind taking time to do something Bane related, and my oh my! I loved the story and if you haven't read it yet you must! and I stress MUST go read it. I love the plot development and the OC development. It legit sucked me in and I was reading non-stop, ignoring people when they were talking to me; the whole nine-yards. (PS thank you to the reader who told me about this too)  
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**Rant Over! I will talk to you next time!  
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**And as always, thank you for taking the time to read my story and let me know what you think in a review or PM! :D  
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**Love love,  
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**Narrie  
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	11. Chapter 11

**I'm on time with the update! Everyone REJOICE! *Happy Dance***

**Anywho, I apologize in advance that a lot of this chapter is Dialogue and not much description but it's all necessary, I promise! Also thank you to everyone who continues to support this story and to those who continue to review and let me know what you all think. It makes me day when I see I have a new review and I love reading what you all say. So thank you eternally for making this story as successful as it is. I owe it to all of you C:  
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**Enjoy!  
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Chapter Eleven

Heavy robotic breathing filled the silence between Azzy still hugging me, and my eyes never leaving Bane's. I thought he would have been just as happy as Azzy was with this revelation, not look at me with cold eyes.

"I think we are done for today Azzy. Something has come up." Azriel slowly released me and nodded. He glanced at me quickly before I gave him a small nod, letting him know it was okay. I walked forward towards Bane as I heard the door close behind me, him and I were now left alone.

"Why?" He asked. He sounded older than usual, even with his added apparatus; I couldn't help but feel the distance in his voice. I opened my mouth to reply but no noise would come out, my mind felt completely blank. Bane took two steps closer to me as he flexed his arms, threatening me. I scowled, this wasn't Bane; he would never threaten me like that.

I walked forward and grabbed his forearm; I could see his chest rising with deep breaths. "This isn't you Bane." I looked up at him. I saw how my sad expression softened his hard exterior. "You can be upset with me because you don't like my decision, or the news I just brought you, but that doesn't merit you flexing your muscles like you're going to hit me." I saw the realization in his expression; he hadn't recognized what he did in the moment. I placed my hand over his cheek, the tips of my fingers resting against his skin.

"That was not you. That is what Venom will do to you if you do not learn to control and realize the anger rise within you." Bane watched me with steady eyes, wondering if what I was saying was to comfort him or if I truly believed that he wasn't as angry as he lead others, and often himself, to believe. "I want to help you Bane. But when you go on missions, I couldn't have gone with you. Not until now." His brow creased again, I had struck a cord in his chest. "Why does it pain you to hear me say that? It's what I want."

"You want to keep an eye on Talia. Do you not trust me? Talia can try all she wants, but I am yours Rayna. You must put your faith in me." It was odd hearing his words sound so harsh, his usual poetic, velvet and rhythmic voice had been replaced by one that would be found among a scrap yard, a voice that should belong to a robotic obsessed villain. Yet I still recognized his affection, but it wasn't from his voice, it was through his eyes; his beautiful eyes that always told me what Bane truly felt, what truly went on in his complicated mind.

I felt his hands press against my cheeks, my eyes drifted away and focused on a corner in the room. "I want the Rayna back that didn't care about any of this. The woman who would take the time to teach me things, who would simply sit beside me on a chair knowing that was enough for me. The one who knew that what I said was what I meant." He forced me to look at him, up to that point I thought he was angry at me, telling me that I had changed for the worse, that I would no longer be worthy of him and his protection. When I finally saw him though, his eyes were sad. The scowl I wore quickly faded as I gazed at Bane's expression; it was almost pleading. "I would lose you to that world, just as I once lost Talia. Don't put me through that." So he did truly care about Talia at one point and time. I couldn't help but smile at my stupidity, I did curse what Bane would do to me when I first met him but I never thought it would bring me to such a level of blindness.

I used to be intuitive to what others were feeling, what they wanted. I could tell it all just by looking at them or being close to them. Yet lately, all I saw was Bane and the threat other people posed to taking him away from me. How could I let fear blind me so badly that I lost sight of everything else? I felt ashamed that I allowed myself to get lost as well. In my sense of being disoriented with guilt, with this feeling that I would lose Bane somehow to something that was beyond my control, I tried to show him that they didn't matter.

In my fear of losing him to my sister on the numerous missions they would end up going on together, I wanted to show him that I was just as skillful as her, that I was just as desirable. In my self-righteous phase I forgot why Bane chose me, why he wanted to be with me. I was the innocence that he loved in this world; that he hoped still existed and could exist. I slowly nodded.

"Okay." I paused and nodded my head once more, almost to reassure myself that I had fully realized how I was acting. "I will try my best but I can't go back on my sworn promise to my father, to Ra's. I have to go through with my missions. I can only try to convince him to let me be an informant. Not to go on the crusades but I could become the in between person. I have to think of a good reason for it though."

"See what you can do." I felt his hands leave my face as I saw his body start to twist away from me. I reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking away from me.

"You have to promise me one thing though Bane." He stopped in his tracks, but he didn't turn around. In his mind, I was at fault; I was the person who needed to mend the small crack I had caused in our relationship. He didn't see it from my perspective, something I didn't expect him to do. "You have to work with me on controlling the side effects of Venom. If you don't learn to harness it, you will just set ablaze to any city, any construct or any person you cross or that crosses you. You have to learn how to control it, how to channel it into the right situations and the right missions. It will only get worse Bane, the anger inside of you will grow until it consumes you and then I will lose you forever."

He slowly turned around and looked at me, blinking slowly, but he said nothing. "You still never told me why." I felt my jaw clench.

"Answer me first and then I will explain it all to you." I saw his expression harden at my harsh words. I know I was bold with Bane; I never hid what I felt. I never felt a sense to fear him, even though he had shown me many reason to do so. I always pondered the reasons why I didn't fear him, maybe it was because I was already broken from all the extensive years of torture my sister put me through. Bane just pulled his arm out of my grip and turned to walk out of my training room and into my office.

I was left alone in the middle of a room in silence as I heard him rummage through my room, obviously grabbing what he wanted to take with him, whether it was mine originally or not. "My whole life, the only sense of safety I felt while I was on my own was the fact that I could never fear anything more than what I had already gone through." I raised my voice so Bane could hear me clearly. I waited until his figure stood inside the frame of the door. His eyes steady on me, watching and waiting as always.

"Until you." I paused, searching for the right words. I had one chance to get Bane to understand why I made my decisions. If he didn't accept what I said, if he couldn't understand the reasons I gave him, I didn't know what would happen at that point. I had never seen him this angry, but thankfully he didn't show it. I could just tell.

"Before you, I was empty. You say it was like I didn't care and that was because I didn't. In my eyes, I had been through the worst it would ever get, I had been defenseless against someone's brutal hatred, constantly beaten or tortured without the ability to stop it. For years I went through that Bane. I only allowed people to see the side of me that would allow them or compel them to save me from her." Tears started to well up in my eyes. I had never spoken about this part of me to anyone; I could feel the walls and barriers being destroyed around me as Bane slowly walked towards me.

"Talia had ripped my world from me. She made me feel like I was a motherless monster that was only here out of the pity my father felt for me. People only protected me from my sister out of the _pity_ they felt for the defenseless child. I hid my anger for so long, it just built up inside of me." I clutched my hand to my chest and tears started to flow freely from my eyes. "Until I couldn't control it anymore. It consumed me with hatred, with spite and the want of vengeance." I let out a broken laugh. "You remember when I told you that I was far from innocent? That I had seen so much death in my life?" My eyes fixated on a small spec of dirt on the ground.

"I begged my father to let me become an assassin when I was younger. I wanted to leave this place, I wanted to learn how to defend myself but in my training he saw the anger behind my throws, he had to. I sensed he saw the hatred that brewed inside of me, my father is one of the few people who can see past my bullshit mask. He never let me go, but that didn't stop me. So I snuck onto a mission, I told them that my father wanted this to be my initiation but I joined the group too late for them to go find Ra's al Ghul to confirm. I had never given them a reason to doubt my word before, so they believed me." Sobs started to break up my sentences, I felt the familiar clump of emotions clog my throat, choking me every time a sob managed to slip past and escape my lips. "Hundreds died on my account. They left me to manage the switch but some men found me and fought me. The switch was hit by accident during the fight and the building our target was in blew up with the hundreds of other people in their and my fellow brothers."

"When I returned, I ran to my father crying. It was an accident; I didn't mean to kill those people. They were innocent, they didn't deserve to die but it was my stupidity and angry adolescence that caused their death, that ceased them from living another day. So my father gave me another option. He would lie for me and cover up my mistake if I became the doctor to the organization, if I committed myself to saving the lives of my brothers…to make up for the ones I killed. It was on that day when I felt all the anger leave me, every last drop. I became empty and hollow after that point, not caring what would happen to me. By then Talia had taken my humanity, my loving nature and my life from me, I had nothing else to live for. Until you." I looked up at Bane. He was standing a few feet away from me, his eyes gazing at me with a soft and kind expression. He could relate to the idea of a tortured soul, haunted by your past; they were all things that Bane and I had in common, he just didn't know until now.

"You gave me that spark that brought me back to this world. I tried to ignore the feeling for so long, I didn't want it. The last thing I wanted to do was care about another thing that would be taken from me but the longer I spent with you Bane," I took a few steps forward and wrapped my arms around him. I didn't care if he didn't want to hold me, but I needed to feel him in my arms. I needed him to comfort me and tell me that it would be okay, because at this point I didn't know if it ever would be okay again, "I realized that I was past the point of not caring. I felt human again, I didn't feel empty and soulless." I felt his arms wrap around me and hold me close.

I felt the clump in my throat again but the tears had stopped. There was something that I needed to get out, something I needed to say but I was hesitant to do so. "This time, I had convinced my father to allow it because he can see the change in me. He can see that I care, that it breaks my heart to see you in pain or to be away from you. I joined because I wanted to protect you, because I feared of what I couldn't stop if I wasn't there." I felt his body tense with anger. "Not with you," I reassured him, "but with Talia. Even though we are civilized with each other right now, I can't stop worrying about her." I paused, allowing myself to hear Bane's breathing, to feel his chest move. I closed my eyes, hoping it would help with the anxiety I felt towards what I wanted and what I had to say next.

"I love you Bane and I am forever yours to protect." I looked up at him and smiled, he looked confused and I saw the light shimmer that eyes would give when tears were forming. "But you can't get angry at me when I want to try to protect you as well. You already told me how I felt, and when you told me that you said yourself that I don't like seeing the being I love being hurt. It's true; I want to do whatever I am capable of to assure that you are safe. You can't stop me Bane, as someone who has sworn to protect me, you must understand." I reached up and wiped away the few tears that managed to escape Bane's eyes, despite his probable efforts.

I rested my forehead against his chest as we stood in the middle of the training room holding each other. I didn't expect Bane to say anything, I was surprised he even listened to my whole explanation and as far as his feelings for me went, I already knew how he felt; it was just a matter of time until he was ready to say it.

"So then you don't hurt anyone on your missions. You don't go into battle and you don't have a weapon. You can attack if you must for self-defense but you never kill them. Promise me." He tone was cold but I knew it wasn't directed at me, it was the thought of what would happen if I did, if I went back to the way I used to be; cold and heartless.

"I promise."

"As do I." I looked up at him, taking my head off of my chest.

"You do what?" I asked, obviously perplexed but I saw the smile in Bane's eyes.

"I promise to work on controlling my anger. You were right, I can feel it growing even since I started taking Venom." I smiled and patted his chest.

"Besides, you said you wanted me to go back to the person who taught you things. Lesson number one: Anger Management." I laughed and I saw the smile in Bane's eyes. It was at these moments that I wanted my laughter and his smile to follow with a kiss, but I couldn't admit that to Bane. He was probably thinking the same; I could see the slight sadness in his gaze. I reached up and kissed his neck, pressing my lips against his flesh. "That way you can still feel my lips on you." I smiled and placed my hand over his cheek. I could tell he was smiling and that he was happy. I let out a sigh of relief as I felt my world settling back down to its normal state, the chaos that once ruled it started to slip away.

"Oh shit! You need nutrients!" I exclaimed, trying my best to get out of Bane's iron grip. "Let me go." I giggled as he smiled, watching me struggle. I stopped and looked up at him, obviously annoyed. "You have a power complex, I hope you know that." A roar of laughter filled the room as Bane released me from his grip.

"That may be so, but I just knew holding you would frustrate you." I scowled at him and walked past him to my office. I grabbed what I would need to give Bane the proper nutrients, luckily I had worked on the exact math for how much proteins, vitamins, etc. that he would need every day until he would finally be able to eat again.

"It is called TPN; Total Parenteral Nutrition." I said, showing Bane the bag of fluid as he walked into my office. "It will give you all the nutrients you need through an IV. When we can finally manage to take the mask off for 15 minutes so you can eat, we will have to slowly start you back onto food, starting with things that will be easy for you to digest since your digestive track will be a little out of use. This is the only option we have to get nutrients into you while you have that mask on." I smiled at him but I could tell he let out a sigh. I put the bag down on the table and walked over to Bane, running my hands up and down his arms.

"I know it all sounds tedious but I will help take care of it all. Even with the new doctor coming in eventually, I will work with them to make sure everything for you runs smoothly." I let my hands fall into his giant grip. "It will be okay, I promise." He gripped my hands, letting me know that he was listening and he would let me comfort him. Sometimes I thought he just let me think that I was helping his subconscious worries with my words because he knew it settled my own anxiety. I groaned at the idea of him using reverse psychology on me, I was never a fan of it and the string of thoughts that would follow me trying to figure out if he truly was performing this action on me already made my head hurt.

"We should sleep." I started to hear Bane's voice within the robotic amplification his mask gave; it made my heart leap and I suddenly felt a full acceptance towards his newly added mask. It really did suit him; it added that extra level of menace to Bane's exterior. For someone who didn't know him he looked like a cold killer, that's what the mask created. I smiled as my fingers fell onto the equipment; I saw the crinkle in Bane's eyes as they danced, watching me fall deep into thought as I stared at his mask. "What are you doing?" He finally asked, his voice laughing.

I looked up at him, snapping out of my trance. A smile broke out on my face. "Just admiring my work." He let a chuckle escape his lips; I felt butterflies escape in my stomach, sending goose bumps across my skin. I loved his laugh, his joyous exterior and the way his eyes danced when he was happy; it was intoxicating. "Can we sleep on the ground again tonight." I smiled as I looked down at his body, averting my eyes from his as a slight blush appeared on my cheeks. "I have grown accustom to having you in my arms."

"You want to hold me tonight?" He was trying hard to suppress laughter, I could tell. I just scowled at him, giving him an annoyed look.

"No, stupid. My hand or head on your chest counts in that category." He looked at me with his bright eyes and my scowl slowly turned into a poorly suppressed smile and then into a grin. I couldn't help but feel giddy when Bane was like this, it allowed me to let myself go and be just as playful. Nothing else existed in this world except him at these moments.

"Last time I checked, a hand or head on a chest did not count under the category of in someone's arms." He paused and as I started to open my mouth to reply he quickly cut me off. "But, you do know everything. So I'm wrong, now you've won the argument." With one sentence he was allowed to throw three of my stupid comments I had made to Bane at me. I was dumbfounded, my mind drawing a blank as I stared at him with shock. Finally I set my jaw and my eyes slightly hardened.

"Shut it and start making our bed." I paused. "And don't you even think I'm helping you after that comment." Bane just nodded and turned to start working on our bed. The way he looked at me before he turned made my gaze follow him as he moved. His eyes didn't show the normal smile he always gave when I made a snarky comment; it was different somehow. Was he smirking? Or maybe he was grinning, a first for Bane, or at least when he was around me. But something told me that this was the first time he allowed himself this much joy.

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**Yay for happy endings! I hope the dialogue wasn't too draining :)**

**I have a question for all of you! Do you like reading chapters that are around this length? Shorter? Longer? Do you not care? I just know that sometimes my chapters can fluctuate with length and I want to make sure that you are all still interested by the end of the chapter and that the length doesn't deter you from reading. Because if you want shorter chapters, I can definitely do that, it just means more updates with shorter chapters or less updates with longer chapters. Let me know in a review or a PM. :D  
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**On a total side note, don't you hate it when another person's alarm wakes you up?! The person who lives above me has their base so loud in their room for their alarm at 7am that it has woken me up 3 out of the last 5 mornings -.- 7AM! I go to bed at 1am. Life sucks right now but at least I get to write more. Stupid double edged blade...  
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**Thank you for reading as always and I can't wait to hear what you all think! Review or whatnots if you feel like it :)  
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**Love love!  
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**Narrie  
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	12. Chapter 12

**First of all I am SOOOO sorry for the late update. I was stuck inside of my house for 4 days straight because of some contractors and it gave me mad cabin fever which in turn gave me horrendous writer's block D: but I fixed it, so it's okay! :)**

**I won't say much since it's already been 6 days waiting but please enjoy! Read and review or do as you please :D  
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Chapter Twelve

"Rayna?" I heard my father call my name and I bolted upwards in my bed. My eyes fell on Bane's sleeping body and my heart started to pound against my chest, almost bursting through my skin. My father couldn't see us like this, sleeping together in the same bed. I quickly stood up as the door opened. "Ray—" His eyes locked onto the scene of me hopping out of bed and Bane still soundly asleep, oddly enough; he has never been a heavy sleeper.

"H-hello father." I stuttered at the beginning, unsure what would be going on in my father's head at this moment. I felt almost like I was a small child who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, doing something I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't resist. "What brings you to my room at this hour?" His eyes fell back on me and I felt a shiver run down my spine. I never liked not knowing what my father was thinking and it rarely happened, but when it did, I felt alone in this vast world.

"We are to visit Gotham today. It is a long flight, so we have to leave in fifteen minutes." His gaze flicked to Bane quickly and then back to me. "Say your fare-well's. I will be waiting." I nodded and bowed deeply to Ra's, accepting my orders as they were given. Once I heard to door between my training room and the hallway close, I straightened my back and looked over at Bane who was now wide awake.

"You couldn't have woken up earlier and showed my father that you are at least clothed?" My tone was annoyed. I looked at the man, whose massive body was covered completely by the blanket we shared, with only his face slightly showing. He slowly stood up, a slight crinkle in the sides of his eyes. He was smiling because my annoyance amused him, as always. I scowled; at least he was always consistent with his reactions whether they annoyed me further or not. "Well?" I asked impatiently, placing my hands on my hips. Obviously becoming agitated at his prolonged silence.

"I thought it wise to let your father think I was asleep. That way I wouldn't have had to explain why we are sharing a bed. That is better left to you." He rested his hands on my shoulders. I could feel the slight pressure his mass put on my bones as he shifted some of his weight onto me. I never wanted to even imagine what his full strength could do.

'Gee…thanks for that." I said in a sassy tone, obviously too harsh though. Bane pulled away from me, his eyes now empty and missing the joy I had seen in them before.

"Rayna—" I put my hand over his mask and he knew I wanted him to stop talking. I couldn't help but smile at how a man like Bane, this supposedly malicious, intimidating and angry man, would take simple directions from someone like me. It made it hard for me to see how people saw him as a menace.

"I was just poking fun. No need to worry, I get it. You don't like my father." I saw the smile back in his eyes and I felt a sense of worry escape my body, allowing me to feel relaxed once more.

"He's intimidating." I snorted from my attempts to stop my abrupt laughter. The thought of Bane finding someone else intimidating was an odd truth to accept on it's own but considering how Bane has acted with my father before, or at least around me, nobody would be able to guess that he was intimidated by Ra's al Ghul; I bet my father doesn't even know. "What is so funny that I amuse you this much?" I heard the smile in his tone and a hint of curiosity.

I looked up at Bane and placed my hand on his cheek; something I found my hand naturally doing whenever I felt an overwhelming sense of love towards him. "You just intrigue me." I told him with a smile. His eyes explored my features, obviously Bane was unsure how to interpret my answer; I don't think he liked that fact that I gave him an answer he would have given me if our roles were reversed. I tried to resist the smile that crept over my face, but I didn't succeed in the slightest.

"Be safe." His words sounded grim, almost like he was expecting me to not return. My smile faded quickly as I gazed into his eyes, concerned by his tone.

"Nothing will happen to me Bane. I promise." I tried my best to give him a reassuring look, a simple smile on my face and my hand loosely holding his forearm. The honest truth was that I didn't know if I would be okay or not, I didn't know what I was doing except for the fact that I was heading to Gotham, a city I knew to be ridden with crime, filth and the corrupt. I had no idea what was in store for me but I couldn't let Bane see that, he had to think I was safe so he wouldn't be distracted from his training.

I swiftly kissed his neck. "I have to leave now. Ra's is waiting. Be good while I'm gone and I don't want to come back to see you malnourished." I saw him give me a small nod, he agreed to my terms. With a smile on my face I left my office and Bane to meet my father and to go on my first official mission.

When I arrived to where my father was to meet me, I saw him attentively standing, almost statuesque, by the private jet I could only assume was meant for us to travel in. "Hello father." I called to him from afar and when my voice met his ears seconds later, he looked over at me and smiled. I felt my body relax even though I hadn't even noticed I was tense to begin with.

"Ready?" I nodded but then looked around to see where the rest of our mission group was. "We will be going alone today." A frown appeared on my face and continued to grow with each negative thought that came into my head. Did my father not want anyone else on the mission just incase they died on my account? Did he not trust me? Did he truly still blame me after all the lives I had saved as the league's doctor? Was it all for nothing? A heavy sigh escaped me and my eyes gazed down at the ground. I will always be punished for what I did; I will never be able to escape my past. I felt a strong hand fall to my shoulder. For a second I thought it was Bane, but when my father spoke, I knew that I had a false hope.

"Rayna, I do this because we only need you and I to go to Gotham. Do not mislead your thoughts with your own worries and guilt." I slowly nodded but I felt too hollow to reply with my words. I didn't even have faith in my own ability to form sentences that were longer than 2 words. With my mind occupied on remembering the night when all those men died on my account, there was no room for any other thoughts. The screams, the cries for help and the repugnant smell of burning flesh had filled my senses and to this day my mind still gives me the phantom smell of burnt flesh; even I won't allow myself to escape my own past. It seemed like I was doomed to remember that night and grieve each time for the rest of my life. "Come, we must leave." My father started to climb the stairs and I quickly followed behind him, seemingly acting like his shadow.

We sat in silence for the majority of the trip. Our chairs were across from each other but my eyes were always gazing out of the window, taking in my surroundings and sights, especially when you could see through the clouds. But mostly, I wanted to avoid talking about Bane with my father, something I could tell he wanted to chat about but definitely something that I don't want to attempt to explain to my father.

"Rayna, I have let you ignore me long enough. I wish to speak to you." At least he was trying to be polite about it and not forcing me to talk to him, he just chose to mock me instead. _Oh father, you always know what I want most_. My sarcastic thoughts ran through my head as I reluctantly pulled my eyes away from the window. He reached across the table and pulled the curtain over my window, blocking my sight of the beautiful world that just lay outside of this jet. I glared at him and slightly slumped into my chair. What was wrong with looking out a window and having a discussion at the same time? I could have done it.

"Well?" I asked after a minute had passed with my father and I sitting in silence. If I wasn't allowed to look out the window, the thing I wanted to do, then we were going to talk, it wasn't fair otherwise. I even made no effort to hide the annoyed tone in my voice, it was the only way I would ever protest against my father; I gave up being overly rebellious a long time ago. Ra's just smiled.

"I think you know what I want to talk about." My father was looking at the cup of tea he had in his hands, smiling. Unfortunately, because of my previous frustrations and the fact that he gave me an eluding response, I acted without thinking through what my father meant by his sentence.

"We just cuddled. There was nothing to it, okay?" My father looked up at me, and smirked. I assumed wrong.

"I wanted to talk about what we were going to Gotham about, but if this is what you wish to speak about, then I will honor your request." _I hate you_. I hated it when Ra's did this, he knew that I was worried about something I had done, whether he already knew about it or not. Growing up, I had a conscious big enough for two people. You could read guilt on my face even if you didn't fully understand what guilt was, you could just tell by the way I looked, the immense sadness behind my eyes, that I thought I had done something wrong; whether I truly did or not was always up to my father. He would always want to talk to me about something else, or invite me for tea or he would simply wait for me to go to him. But he always knew that I would tell him sooner or later, I could never keep secrets from him, no matter how hard I have tried to do so.

"Nothing _to_ talk about, father. I love him, he treats me right, he cares about me and he would do anything to protect me. Even putting himself in harms way." I paused as my mind was consumed with fond memories I had with Bane. "He makes me feel safe, he makes me feel human again. You know how I was after my incident, and then after Riju. Bane is what brought me back to life, he doesn't know it but the day you placed him in my office, that day I allowed him to live, ever since then he started to change me. Each smile he gave me, each sarcastic comment he directed towards me and every moment he made me feel joy…he brought me back to life. I used to be hollow, almost like I had been replaced with a heartless and robotic doppelganger, doing as I should but not feeling any emotion or compassion for anything or anyone. So I don't want to hear any disapproval's or reasons why I shouldn't care for Bane, because if you don't like him or feel grateful towards him after what I just told you, then your opinion doesn't matter to me." A chuckle followed my angry and compassionate words. I would defend Bane to the bitter end if I had to, because in my mind I was his and he was mine, the emotions he feels I feel and if he ever left me, I would cease to exist.

"Very well. That still won't stop me from being concerned with the combination of his anger and his strength. It could become dangerous, Rayna." I shook my head vigorously.

"Bane wouldn't do what you are worried about unless you gave him a good reason. Yes, the venom is making it increasingly harder for him to suppress his anger but he agreed to let me help him control it. We can work past it and as far as his strength goes, you can't complain about that. You lost your right to do that the day you suggested he use that horrible substance." My voice turned cold as I felt the fire burn slowly in my stomach. That would be something I would be angry with my father for, for the rest of my life. I saw the look of concern my father gave me and I knew what he was thinking. "I've moved past it father, doesn't mean I have to forgive you." He nodded, reluctantly resting back into his chair.

"Fair enough." He paused, watching me with intent. Little did he know that I heard the sadness in his voice and I felt it tug on my heart. "But hear this Rayna. Nothing in this world can make you forgive whoever or whatever created and molded you into a monster. That anger Bane feels will never go away, there will be a day when he looses his temper and hurts a member of the league. That day I will forget about your feelings towards him, I will no longer see him through the eyes of my daughter but from the eyes of a leader and then I will decide his fate." I fell silent and removed the curtain. I was done talking about this; he had no right to say such things to me. I stared out the window to look down at the cloudy sky below me, forcing myself to hold back tears at the thought of the man I loved dying to my father's blade; the feeling was all too familiar.

"You will be meeting with Doctor Jonathan Crane. He is producing our toxin that will make Gotham scramble to stay alive, it will create chaos and havoc in it's wake and bring Gotham to it's knees. You will also have to go to and talk with a company who is going to create the machine that will make this toxin airborne. We need a device that is big enough to vaporize an entire city's water supply within minutes, they can figure out the logistics. Any idea how you will spin this?" I gazed out the window, taking in every word my father said. It was a clever plan, I didn't fully understand it but that would be fixed once I met with our clients.

"Simple. I'm a doctor for third world countries, especially in desert cities. Sometimes when a virus hits, it has the potential to kill thousands within hours. We could use the machine to make a vaccine airborne so that we don't lose as many lives. We simply don't have the resources or enough doctors to treat the patients fast enough. It's a trial idea that I am willing to pay for out of my family estate, in hopes that this one machine could save thousands of lives." My father nodded his agreement.

"Good job, and with your work at the league you can make your story believable." He paused, looking at me. A small smile peeked out from behind his frown. "I have underestimated you, you have been ready for this for awhile."

My eyes never left the scenery of the outside world, the new lands that had yet to be discovered by my eyes. I could tell that we were starting to descend, we would land in Gotham soon enough. My father thinks I have been ready for a while, but the truth of the matter was that I didn't know if I had ever been ready. I looked up at Ra's and smiled. I knew he would expect an answer from me, or at least a reaction. "Thank you father, but we cannot dwell on what should have been done. I'm here now, that's all that matters. What are you planning on doing in Gotham?"

"I need to find someone who is vital to our plan. You will have a car drive you to each destination. First to Wayne Enterprise and then to Arkham to talk to Doctor Crane. Then we shall fly back home tonight." We sat in silence until we felt the rough touchdown of the plane colliding with the ground. Standing up, I stretched my stiff muscles. "Before you leave, I will have someone come to do your hair and put on make-up. You must look like a member of a wealthy family who has grown up in Gotham." I cringed at the thought on the inside, not allowing my inner distaste of the idea show. I had never worn make-up, never saw the reason to and my hair was always down; it's the way I felt comfortable.

"Please father. Even if I came from a rich family, if I left to live and work in third world countries, I feel it would be odd for me to wear make-up. Someone that selfless would have given up caring what he or she looked like. Give me proper clothes, but hair and make-up is not necessary." Ra's stood at the door leading towards the tarmac. He looked up at me and gave me an oddly affectionate look.

"You are in charge now. You will make your own decisions." And with that he left me to myself. I changed into the suit that was left for me, it felt snug but the fabric was comfortable, the silk was a welcomed change to my new attire from my regular clothes. When I left the jet I saw a young man holding a door open to the car that I could only assume was meant for me.

"Welcome to Gotham Miss. Bell. Here is your package," He handed me a yellowish-brown envelope, "now if you will miss, we will head towards Wayne Tower." I smiled and nodded.

"Thank you." I said as I sat into the vehicle. I looked at the package that I held in my hands, wondering simply why I was given this. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the driver called me Bell. Opening the envelope, I found a passport, ID and some cash. The name on the identification was Sandra Bell; even my picture matched the card. I smiled at the plastic license I held in my hands, it made it all that easier to disappear from Gotham after today's visit.

It was hard to not get distracted by the large buildings and the busy streets. It took all of my will power to not look out the windows as if this city were new to me like I had done with the jet; my curiosity and thirst for knowledge would have to wait. The car stopped sooner than I had anticipated, I wasn't sure why I expected a longer journey, but maybe it was due to the time-consuming jet flight I just had.

The car door opened and my driver offered his hand; I delicately placed my hand in his and stood out of the car. "Wait here, I should be no longer than twenty minutes." The driver nodded and I walked towards the entrance of the building. The inside was well decorated, but the painting of a family was what caught my eye. There was the husband and wife and their young son, they seemed happy and content; it made me smile.

"The people of Gotham will never forget what the Wayne family has done for them," a man's voice came from behind me, "or at least I have never forgotten." I turned to see a tall man whose hair was grayed. He extended his hand. "Lucius Fox." I grabbed his hand and smiled.

"Sandra Bell. It's a pleasure to meet you Mister Fox." The man smiled, I could tell he was a kind man and someone I would be comfortable doing business with.

"Miss Bell. What can I help you with?" How was it that the first person I met in this supposed corrupt city, one of the kindest people I had ever met in my life?

"Well, I'm looking to finance a personal project, I just need someone to build it. A close friend told me that I could come to this company, Mister Fox, and be helped. Would I be correct?"

"Depends what your personal project if for." I smiled, I would tell him the truth.

"I wish to save the lives of those who suffer, to help end their misery and their pain. I cannot do it alone and I know this may not work, but my idea is worth trying because, in my humblest opinion Lucius, you cannot put a price on cities worth saving." I smiled as I saw I had won him over, the sad truth about a kind person was that they tended to be overly accepting. Something about Lucius told me that he wasn't naïve or stupid but when it comes to the topic of doing good, of saving lives, he was a hopeless believer.

"Please, walk with me to my office, we will discuss our business plan."

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**Hope you all liked this chapter and it was worth waiting for, since I don't really suffer from writer's block I will try to get another chapter out soon since my weekend will be pretty busy. I just have to update my other batman fic, which won't take long, I pinky swear!**

**Oh! Also, just incase people are wondering. This story will have influence on Batman Begins and TDKR. Possibly with TDK as well but it will end with TDKR and if I want to do anymore more with Bane/Rayna then it will be in a sequel :)  
**

**Side note, I AM SO EXCITED FOR LAWLESS! Mmmmm Tom Hardy *drool*. Anyone else excited? Hehehehe  
**

**Well with that, please let me know what you think about everything so far. Do you feel like there is anything missing, something you would maybe like to see happen? Can't wait to hear from all of you!  
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**Love love!  
**

**Narrie  
**


	13. Chapter 13

Bane's Lullaby

Chapter Thirteen

"I can pay you by tomorrow for all the costs. I can only imagine what position this could put you in with your boss but I do appreciate your full disclosure, and wish to show you that." I gave Lucius a kind smile, genuine in every way. The less people who knew about this deal, the better.

"Of course Miss. Bell." He slightly nodded to me. "But before I promise that, I need to know what your true intentions are with this machine. I know what you said before was grand and I do like the concept, but it is just that. A concept." He sat back in his chair and I graced him with a small smile.

"Mr. Fox. Please do not take me for some villain because of what I am asking for. I know that this item could potentially be weaponized and I anticipate other liquids possibly being vaporized during this process, but water and medicine can be replaced. Lives cannot. That much I know and as long as this item is in _my_ hands, I will not allow it to be used to harm another soul on this planet." I paused, watching Lucius with steady eyes.

"This I can promise, Lucius, and if you do not trust me now, if you to not hear the truths in the words I speak, then I was lead to believe wrong about this company and about you." The last part was not true. I had no idea who Lucius Fox was before today, but from the way he acted, the way he looked at me when I said that 'there was no price you could put on a city'; on the lives within. I could tell he was a compassionate man, that he was empathetic, like me; and for the first time in my life, I found a drive to manipulate that ability of mine.

The man simply nodded. "Very well, I just hope you understand that I had to make sure." The familiar smile returned to my face. I stood up and extended my hand towards the kind man and my new business partner.

"Of course I understand. You wouldn't want to release this creation without knowing it was going into the right hands. But I assure you Lucius, my hands are clean and I intend to keep them that way. I promised myself that from a younger age and have kept that promise." He nodded one last time, as if to finalize the deal. Shaking my hand, he stood up.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Miss Bell. We will be in touch soon." I nodded and turned to walk out of the room.

"I will have the money wired to your personal accounts. I hope that will suffice." I called to him while walking down the hall towards the elevator.

"That will be perfectly fine Miss Bell." He said from the opening of his doorframe, as he watched me get into the elevator with a smile on his face.

Letting a heavy sigh out as I stood in the elevator on my own, I allowed myself to finally relax. I had done it, the hard part was over and I could breathe easy. My father had already made pre-arrangements with Doctor Crane so I did not have to be as quick on my feet as I had to be with Lucius.

Walking out of the building, I took one last glance at the pretty portrait drawn of the happy family. That could have been me if my life was different.

My driver was where I left him, awaiting my arrival. "Was I on time?" I asked, cheerful. The man smiled at me, slightly taken aback by my question.

"Right on time, miss." He said, smiling as he opened the car door for me. I nodded as I started to sit into the vehicle.

"Good, next destination then please." He bowed.

"Very well, miss."

I sat in a white padded room with nothing but a small cot, metal table and two chairs. It was an odd place to meet a client and I could only assume I would get an answer from Doctor Crane as soon as he appeared. I was not fond of sitting in that room for much longer.

Sitting in silence for what seemed like hours, I grew tired of waiting. I finally got up and left the room, determined to find the man myself. I was walking through the hallway, doors lining the walls as far as I could see. Screams of terror, cries of distress and the laughter of the insane filled my ears, almost tearing my eardrums apart.

BAM

The sound made me jump as a woman slammed against her door, her deranged face peering through the glass at me. Her hair was fire red, her eyes a pale blue but there was no life behind them, no soul. She was long lost, but something about her seemed oddly familiar.

"Ray—" she croaked and I felt my eyes go wide. "Rayna…" she sounded confused, but it had to be the mental state she was in. I felt my heart race, my breathing quicken. Every part of me wanted to run, wanted to leave this horrid place but fear paralyzed me. "Rayna, come closer." She spoke softly, her head slightly moving like a snake's.

I turned to briskly move away but my body collided with another's. A small yelp escaped my lips. "I'm sorry." I said, holding back the tears. There was nothing more that I wanted then to have Bane with me, here to protect me, to hold me. I felt my heart sink and the need to cry grow as I thought of how far away Bane was from me.

"It is quite alright. Are you…Rayna?" The man's voice asked, obviously commenting on the woman still clawing at her glass window murmuring my name. I simply nodded as I looked at the ground, trying to block out the voice. I saw the man move towards the door and then the woman start to whimper. "They just need to be told to be quiet." I looked back at the door and the woman was gone but I finally got a good look at the man I had been talking to.

He had dark hair, a pale complexion and a tall and thin frame, but it was his eyes that caused me to stare. They were a color blue I had never seen before, they were pale yet not a dead pale. His eyes were very much alive, dancing and moving as I watched him silently. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Oh…yes…right. I'm sorry." I apologized, finally recognizing how rude I had been. "I am looking for a Doctor Crane, I was to wait for him in one of these rooms," I pointed towards the door the woman had been in moments before, "but I didn't care to stay in there for too long. I thought I could find him but this facility is a lot larger than I perceived." The man smiled at me and extended his hand.

"Doctor Jonathan Crane. I can only assume you are Ra's informant?" I nodded and shook his hand.

"Yes, I am sorry to cause you trouble. You must understand I am not used to this." I looked around one last time, as if to try to find one thing I was used to but failed to do so. Jonathan smiled and nodded slowly, our formalities were getting a bit much but I had to persist; something told me he was not the type you wanted to see angry or wanted to disrespect.

"Of course. It takes certain people to get used to a place like this." I heard slight venom behind his words; maybe I had offended him by referring to his place of work as 'this'. "One thing though Rayna, I was expecting a Miss Sandra Bell today, not you. Would you be able to enlighten me on this?"

"I am sorry for that confusion. My real name is Rayna Lisbel; I had to use an alias for my earlier business meeting, as I would hope you wound understand. I specified that they didn't have to tell you my alias though, you are a trusted contact Doctor Crane, please do not think differently." I bowed deeply to show my true apologies, it was something a good business person would do and that's what I had to be right now. Not someone who is scared of the very ground they stood on, and I refused to show him how shook up I was from that woman who was saying my name with that dead eyes; they haunted and fogged my mind.

"Do you know her?" Jonathan asked. I blinked away the horrific images I replayed in my mind and looked at him. His gaze was on the door that woman had been pressed against. I shook my head and looked away.

"I have never seen a woman like that in my life, Doctor." I heard him smile. Why was he smiling? I felt uneasy but when Jonathan returned to my line of sight he was smiling; it seemed to be a curious one and somehow suited him.

"Please, call me Jonathan. I'm your business partner, not your shrink." Was he making a joke? I did not know why but it seemed like such a foreign trait for this man to make a joke. Either way, somehow his words did not set well in my stomach. "Please," Jonathan gestured down the hall, already taking a step forward, "this way to my office."

I took one last look at the door, feeling a haunting cool run through my skin. I wanted to look one last time; I wanted to see her. Something inside of me wanted to scream for her to come back, as if I missed her. Shaken with fear from my thoughts, from my needs, I hurried after Jonathan Crane. "Why is she here?" I asked once I had met Jonathan's long stride. He glanced down beside me quickly and then looked back down towards the hallway.

"Ra's Al Ghul requested I keep her here under supervision. I am not to do any of my experiments on her though. That was the odd request in my mind." My brows furrowed and I stopped walking.

"Experiments?" Jonathan turned around and took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes.

"Obviously I have said too much and you were ill-informed. I am sorry but I am too busy right now to explain everything. Come back tomorrow after talking to your boss please." I nodded and bowed, embarrassed that my father did not give me sufficient information on Doctor Crane and that I had obviously frustrated him because of it.

"Very well. I will come back tomorrow. Very sorry to waste your time—"

"It wasn't a waste." He said; his tone unreadable. "Do you remember the way out?" I nodded. "Very good, it was a pleasure meeting you." There it was again, an almost forced kindness. I did not understand but it was not for me to ask or protest. I heard my leave, my release from this haunting place and I took it with grace.

"Oh, and Miss Lisbel." He called after me. "I will meet you at the entrance tomorrow by noon." I cried my hopeful and grateful thoughts to him in silence. I just smiled and bowed one last time before turning around and continued to exit the asylum.

My father was waiting for me on the tarmac. He smiled when I got out of the door but I wore a scowl. "How did it go?" He asked.

"We're staying the night in Gotham. Let's go get a hotel." Ra's looked at me, confused.

"What happened?" I scowled as I heard his anger rise, as if _I_ had done something wrong.

"Everything is fine with Wayne Enterprises. That was easy enough, although you did not give me sufficient information on Doctor Crane and he did not trust me because I was _ill informed_. That's what happened, I went to that horrid place for no reason." I saw a flash of pain behind his eyes; I was not sure what about though. Had he guessed that I saw that woman he put behind that door? Maybe it was one of his wives that had not already died; bitter thoughts filled my mind.

"I should be able to stay one night." He finally said. I turned around to walk towards the car.

"You don't have a choice." I growled and I heard my father chuckle behind me. We sat in silence in the car ride and when my father booked our hotel, it wasn't until I came out of my late night shower did my father finally force me to talk.

I walked out of the bathroom; I knew he wanted to talk when I saw that there was freshly brewed tea. Letting out a heavy sigh and I grabbed a cup and sat down in a chair. "Am I that obvious?" I smiled and breathed in the steam flowing from the cup.

"To your daughter, yes. To others, they probably ignore it or don't tell you." I heard him chuckle lightly.

"True followers, yes?" I hummed a reply, nodding in agreement. People could hate my father all they wanted, but they could never deny that he was a great leader. His people were devoted to him and his ideals; they would all die for him if that was what was needed. Nothing can produce such loyalty but exceptional leadership.

"Who was she?" Ra's looked at me, confused that I would ask that question after my silence. "The woman you asked Doctor Crane to keep but exempt from his experiments. Why would you make such a request? Who was she?" He still looked at me perplexed.

"Why do you keep on saying 'was'?"

"Her eyes were empty father. There was nobody left, just insanity that occupied that body." I saw a hint of sadness and his gaze wavered from mine. I had struck a nerve that I did not mean to, opened a wound that did not need to ever be touched once it had been closed. "I'm sorry…" My father shook his head, causing my voice to cast off into silence. I had never seen him act like this, with remorse. He would explain soon enough, so I did as he always did with me; waited.

"No, I am sorry. I should not have hid this from you for so long. I just, blamed myself for so long Rayna. I know that telling you this will make you hate me but I was never ready for that, I am still not ready." He paused, still not looking at me. How could he think he could tell me something that would make me hate him? He was my father, he took care of me, nurtured me from a young age; I would always love him.

"She's your mother."

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**First of all, I am so sorry it has taken me this long to update. End of summer is always busy for me, friends getting those last hang out times before they leave home to go to school again and such. :( I should be able to update sooner once September starts, key word should. I do try to update as soon as I can though.**

**I was kinda iffy about this chapter and I'm sorry if I butchered any sub-characters, don't know why but I'm just not feeling the confidence in this chapter but i do hope you enjoy it and Bane will be back soon, I promise.  
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**Side note, Holy Lawless! Loved that movie and I am waiting for them to put the category up :( It's a bit gruesome and very violent but the story is good. It's a well paced movie full of Tom Hardy. I shall never complain .  
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**With that, thank you everyone for your ongoing support and I am forever grateful to those who review and are constantly reviewing this story.  
**

**Much Love!  
**

**Narrie  
**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

I sat there, unable to move, unable to think, unable to breathe. I felt tears start to form in my eyes, how was that woman my mother? "Explain!" I tried to be calm but my voice was panicked. "You better explain before I come to the wrong conclusion." It was too late though.

Why would he tell me my mother was dead if she was not, but then again…I was the one who told my father she was dead, that there was nothing left in that body. But it was true. So the woman I never knew, the woman I fantasized about having in my life every day, was a lifeless body that was driven insane by something or someone. I slowly glared at my father, he did this to her. He opened his mouth to reply but he had waited too long, my calculated mind had already come to it's own conclusion.

"Why would you leave her there? To be alone in that room, surrounded by that _destruction_?" I was livid, feeling a sense of protection for my own flesh and blood, my mother. "You told me that you loved her!" I yelled at him, standing up from my seated position. "I would never,_ never_, do that to Bane. If you truly loved her you never would have left her alone!"

* * *

I did not move from my seated position as my daughter, _my precious Rayna,_ yelled and screamed at me, and with every right. I could not get mad at her for raising her voice at me, for being belligerently angry with me; everything she said was true. I never should have left Claire; if I truly loved her I would have kept her away from the asylum and from Crane. But I loved Rayna more, I always did but she will never listen to that side, she will never hear my words again until she is ready; and I fear that will never happen again.

"And you kept her from me for all this time?" I heard the heartbreak in her voice, the distance that grew between us. I could not help but let out a sigh, as my heart grew heavy. Of course, I kept this from Rayna for all this time and I would have done so longer if I had not sent her there. I had honestly forgotten, which is not something I would share with anyone and especially Rayna. I would lie to her and tell her I finally wanted her to know about her mother, if she ever demanded the answer.

"Why father." There it was again. Another fracture to her heart, soon enough it will break and she will hate me, just as her mother did. "Please, tell me why." I felt Rayna collapse to my knee, crossing her arms, placing them on my lap, and then burying her face into them. My hand ran over her hair, trying to sooth her as I once did when she was a little girl. I always forgot about Rayna's compassion, her ability to stay mad at someone for a couple days at most. Maybe I just believed this truth would always change her, but maybe it will make her stronger.

But do I lie and not tell her the tragic truth? Do I create a lovely painted picture for her to remember her deranged mother by? That was the true decision.

"I met your mother while on a mission that was in Russia. We were going to take out some corrupt officials that were creating a large monopoly in many cities, they practically owned half of Russia." I breathed slowly as I remembered the brisk cold weather that winter. The bite to the wind as it rushed against your cheeks. "We were stuck in a snow storm, but your mother was living in a house in the middle of nowhere that we so happened to be close to." I paused, smiling at the memory. She had been my savior and my men's savior. I owed her my life.

"She found us in the storm, apparently we were walking towards a frozen lake that was unstable at that time of year. Twenty or Thirty minutes longer and we would have, or at least I would have, gone in and under the water. But she brought us all to her home, myself and my nine other men. She fed us, gave us blankets, she took care of us without question." I remembered her jovial face, her bright smile. I knew when I saw her smile for the first time that I wanted to be with her, but it was a different want that I felt for her than what I felt for the rest of my previous wives. I wanted to be kind, I wanted to be happy and I slowly became less Jaded about this world.

"The storm lasted a week, and every day I insisted that we would leave and she would insult me with many names until I backed down. She had a fire about her, much like you do Rayna." I felt a heavy sigh release from my body as I felt Rayna's head slightly move as she started to sob. "You do remind me of her so much, in all the positive ways." I grabbed my daughters face and made her look at me, my sad eyes peering into hers.

"I am sorry Rayna, I cannot tell you that enough. I took away your mother, I know that but I love you. You captured my heart and soul the day you came into this world, happy as could be. I was the one who was there for you every moment of your life, I was the one who nurtured you and read to you and taught you. I was the parent who loved you, my sweet Rayna. And I am sorry for that." I breathed slowly as she looked at me, silent tears streaking her face, but she did not yell, she did not pull away.

"It will be a hard truth you will have to face if you want to know everything about your mother Rayna, and if you want to know I will tell you everything. Spare no details, but I want you to make that decision." She simply nodded, telling me that not only did she want to hear the story but also she was okay with it. I knew my daughter and I could tell she was no longer mad or upset. She was feeling the hollowness grow inside of her again, she was going back to that dark place I had fought so hard to get her away from.

"By the time the storm was over, she had found out who I was and what I did. She was excited about the idea and frankly, as she told me, she did not want to leave me. So I told her that after that mission, I would come back for her and bring her back home with me, I even left my best man with her for good measure. She had laughed at that idea." I paused, letting myself remember waving goodbye to her, knowing that when I came back I would be able to love her for the rest of my life, I promised myself that she would be my final love and I have kept that promise so far.

"Your mother changed us all when she came back. We stopped going on missions for a while, she became a mother for everyone at the league. They called her 'Mama C'. She loved it, she would express to me how much she always wanted to have children, but after I had already had so many children of my own, I could not bear to bring another into this world not knowing if I would leave it fatherless. But she was supposed to be my final love, the last woman I was with, so I convinced myself it would be different—and it was." I saddened as the images of the next events popped into mind. I felt my hands twitch and Rayna's sad and worried eyes on me. I knew that me talking about Claire was out of my normal character, but the compassion I spoke, the odd pauses and my almost constant smiles suddenly stopping had to have gotten her worried.

"The day you were born was the best day of my life. I was so happy; the whole league was filled with cheers. Everyone wanted us to have a child, they all saw you as their own child in their own way." I saw Rayna smile and nod of her memories, at my words, and I felt my heart go from the heaviness I had before to it almost jumping out of my chest. Knowing she was happy was all I needed to keep me going; all I have ever wanted was for Rayna to be happy.

"Your mother had a bad case of postpartum depression. She always wanted a family but with you being around, being the most charming baby, had the focus shifted onto you. She became jealous and dangerous; she resented you for taking my love. Once day, you were playing with a toy one of the men had made for you, it was a small wooden train; I remember it perfectly." I paused, allowing the images to play through in my head first, so that when I told Rayna the story, my voice would not quiver or shake. I had to relive the memories so my voice would stay level.

"She stalked into the main room, a knife pressed against her throat. She yelled 'It's her or me Ra's.' She was forcing me to choose between you and her, and that is when she was no longer your mother; the woman I fell in love with, and still love to this day. I picked you up and placed you into another league member's arms, you were no more that seven months old. She tried to run at you and kill you but I grabbed the knife from her and held her back against my chest, pinning her against me with my forearm holding her neck." I paused. "You know how I told you that I had cried." Rayna nodded slowly.

"I was weeping as she struggled to get loose from me and kill you Rayna. Her frantic and deranged screams filled the halls and the room and I wept because I knew at that point I would not be leaving you fatherless, but motherless and somehow I felt that was worse. I was crying because not only had I lost my wife and the woman I loved, but you lost your mother and that broke my heart the most. I could not make myself kill her, as I would have in any other situation. So, I locked her up somewhere far away from you. First, it was Africa, and then Germany and then I brought her to Gotham. I knew that nobody would know of her existence if Crane were running the asylum."

"So my mother hated me." Her voice sounded empty and I quickly got onto my knees and hugged my daughter.

"No, _your mother_ would have loved you. She would have cherished your personality, your morals and she would approve of Bane, that much is sure." I felt her laugh against my chest.

"Why's that?" I saw a peak of a smile in the corner of her lips.

"Because he talked back to me. Your mother always found that thrilling and amusing." I felt myself smile and Rayna smiled with me. It was a nice memory for both of us, that much I knew.

"What about Talia? She had to be there for all of this…" I sighed. Rayna was almost too smart for her own good. I guess tonight is the night her whole life unfolds and she sees the kind of world she was really brought into; a world of smoke and mirrors, of pretty paintings and hideous creatures.

"Talia is a very smart woman and was a very bright girl. She may make the wrong decisions from time to time and she lets her rage blind her at moments but the way she treated you when you were young was her decision—and I agreed with it." Rayna opened her mouth to yell or scream or protest as she normally would but I just raised my hand, signaling her to be quiet.

"Rayna, after that day, I left for two weeks to get your mother situated. It was Talia who took care of you, who fed you, bathed you and changed you. When I came back, she loved you and you had grown so attached to her, it was obvious that you thought she was your mother. You had never been held by another female until that day." I saw the realization, the heartbreak and the anger all flash inside of Rayna as she listened to my words.

"Talia told me that she had to act like she hated you and she will continue to do so all her life Rayna. Me telling you this will not change it." Rayna opened her mouth again but I just raised my hand. I would answer her question soon enough. "She did it because she knew that if she loved you and accepted you that it would cripple you. Your kindness and compassion already cloud your judgment at times, it already eats away at you when you do the slightest thing wrong. If you did not have your sister to feel that anger towards, to feel that hatred with, then you never would have been so strong willed. You never would have felt that feeling of loss, that feeling of despair. It's the same reason she took Rufe from you."

"You never left the league house Rayna, you never allowed yourself to see the outside world. If Talia loved you, there would have been nothing bad in your life; you would not understand the true cruelness of this world. Know that her anger, her harsh words and threatening actions were because she played her part well. She made you hate her."

* * *

I sat back with a heavy sigh. This was all too much to take. My mother, the woman I thought would love me unconditionally, hated me and my sister, the girl who thought I was repugnant, loved me all along. I felt my head start to throb, and to think that I felt like I missed my mother when I was in the asylum. I felt my chest tighten as the memories of that asylum came back to me.

"She knew who I was." I said, slowly and slightly panicked. I looked up at my father and he looked at me with concerned eyes. It could not be a good thing that she knew I was here or alive; but she was locked away in that cell for good so I had to be safe. I heard my father inhale but I slowly just shook my head. I did not want to hear anymore, I just wanted to be at home and I wanted to be in Bane's arms. He was the only thing that could bring be out of my darkness, away from the black pit that filled my body.

"I want to go home." I looked up at my father, hopeful but I saw he just shook his head.

"No, I do not want you returning home for awhile. You will see that place and every room will remind you of the story I told you tonight. Stay here for a few days until the Jet returns from taking me home, then go wherever you like but I do not want to see you home for at least a few months." I wanted to shout my protests, I would not do it, I would not leave Bane, but my words were stopped before they left my lips by a loud knock on the door. I quickly stood up and looked through the peephole on the door but all I saw was darkness. The person was obviously covering it with their hand or a piece of thick cloth.

Slowly I opened the door, preparing myself to attack or to be attacked but I saw a large hand grasp the exposed corner of the door and I knew who it was. I swung around the corned and ran into Bane's arms. I did not care how he got here, why he was here but the fact that he was with me was the only thing that mattered.

"Hello." He greeted me, his familiar smile in his tone. Without fail, I broke down into a sobbing fit against his chest. I missed him so much, I missed his touch, his voice, his smile, him; I missed him.

"Bane will be going with you. I will tell everyone that I excommunicated him, and when the time comes for you to return to me, my daughter, I will welcome him back into the family with open arms." I turned to look at my father stand behind me, I had to tell myself this was not goodbye, but a farewell and see you soon, type of deal. I nodded slowly. "Do not worry about seeing Crane tomorrow either, I will have someone else take care of that. I love you Rayna."

"I love you too father." He kissed me swiftly on my forehead and then looked at Bane. They obviously had some unspoken agreement about something that I was obviously to not know about but at the same time, I did not want to know. I had enough of my life flipped upside down today. The last thing I wanted to hear was another secret that was being kept from me.

I walked into the room and grabbed my, now cold, cup of tea. I heard Bane close and lock the door. Turning to face him, he was already behind me. I could not help but smile, he had been training with Talia, but my smile quickly faded as my mind fell back to the events of the past few days. I opened my mouth to tell him everything but he just placed a callused finger over my delicate lips.

"Tell me tomorrow." He said, almost in a hushed tone. I smiled as his voice ran over my body, sending chills down my spine. I forgot how much I had missed it and how I needed it to survive; I needed Bane to survive.

* * *

**So oddly enough I woke up after only sleep like 4 hours and couldn't go back to bed so I have been writing since 6 in the morning! I hope you enjoyed this Chapter though! I always love writing Rayna and Ra's moments when it's Father/Daughter time, something that is so sweet about it. **

**I'm going to try to write shorted chapters, about this length and the chapter before this and see if I can update a lot more frequently this way since my schedule has been up and down lately and it seems like everyone else is planning my time for me. Have to love it when that happens, right?  
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**Please review and let me know what you think or send me a PM if you want to do that too. I love hearing feedback and what people feel about the story so far.  
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**MUCH LOVE!  
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**Narrie  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**Holy! Chapter Fifteen =S This is crazy! Thank you thank you thank you thank you for continuing to read my story and that you all still enjoy it. I am honored and humbled and excited all at the same time!**

**I just want to say before you read this chapter that is was soooooo nice to write Bane again. I hope i did it justice and I even threw in a little Bane POV as well ;)  
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**Enjoy!  
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Chapter Fifteen

I awoke late in the day; the sun was shining where my face would have been if Bane were still in bed. I had obviously turned over when he had left in the morning; it didn't feel right. I sat up, looking around the room for the thing I longed for, what I wanted the most.

I heard a door key being inserted into the hotel lock and then seconds after the handle click open. I practically hopped out of bed, giddy to see Bane. He turned around the corner with a tray of food in his hands; he looked surprised to see me up. Gracefully, I grabbed the tray from his grip and placed it on the nearest surface. Turning around, I walked back to him, his arms slightly open, anticipating what I wanted.

Walking into his embrace was the best feeling this lifetime has ever, and will ever give me. I closed my eyes and breathed heavily against his chest, letting free any anxiety I had felt over the past few days. "I missed you."

"I should have never let you go without me." I smiled against his chest. Bane would make me being vulnerable about him not being with me, to protect me from this state of mind.

"It's not your fault Bane. I—" my voice broke and no noise came out. How was I to even begin telling him how I was, what kind of shock, anger, remorse and loss I felt within minutes of each other. I can't even begin to think how that would have been if Bane was in the room with me, would I have said everything that I did? "It was something I needed to do by myself. I'm okay now, I promise."

He gazed down at me, his beautiful eyes watching me with precise stillness. It always entrapped me, always made me gaze at him just as long, lost in thoughts and memories of Bane; of my Bane. "I am here for when you want to talk about it though. I am sure there will come a day. Until then, we must decide where we are to go. Your father doesn't want you to stay in Gotham." I looked at Bane, perplexed.

"What do you mean, _my father_? He 'excommunicated' you, or do you not remember? You don't have to take orders from him." I saw the smile in Bane's eyes. I was wrong, somehow and in someway I was wrong. And then I remembered that look they gave each other, that look that I decided to disregard because I was mentally exhausted. Damn my laziness! "What did you agree to?" I asked him. I saw the crinkles grow deeper in the corner of his eyes; he was grinning.

"Your father was right, you are too smart for your own good sometimes." I saw the smile linger for a moment longer, he looked at me with proud and adoring eyes. But soon the crinkles faded and Bane's eyes grew slightly darker. "Your father said he would say I was excommunicated. But I will always be a part of the league, until my job is no longer necessary."

"And when is that?" He looked at me, his eyes sad and almost fearful.

"That day will never come." He simply said, his voice dark and brooding. I had said something to send him off-kilter. I hadn't seen him this upset by a possibility of something stopping in a long time, if not ever.

"Bane." I said, looking at him, half smiling. "I don't understand. Can you please just tell me, I'm tired of having to guess." He watched me a moment longer and then pulled away, walking towards the couch.

"Eat and rest." He said, grabbing the tray of food and walking towards the bed. I climbed under the covers and my stomach growled as Bane rested the tray onto my lap. I saw his eyes start to dance, as my cheeks grew rosy. I hadn't even known I was hungry, yet Bane knew to bring me food.

"It was when you told your father to make me an official member of the league."

* * *

Ra's walked into the training room with grace and presence. Even one of the old blind prisoners would have noticed if he had entered a room. I sat on the steps that led to Rayna's office; I was honestly expecting to see her and not Ra's. "My daughter says you are ready to become a member of the league of shadows. I am here to test that fact." He stood in front of me and I just looked up at him, not moving. I wouldn't move until he told me to do so. I saw a smile appear on his face.

"Rayna was right. You do tend to stare and not say anything." I fought to not smile but something gave away the hint that I was amused by her words to describe me. Ra's sat down next to me, looking towards the entrance he had just come in from. "Everyone in the league becomes a member for a purpose. When they join, some are given tasks that very day, others have their missions given to them when they are old and fragile." He looked at me, all seriousness in his eyes and tone. "I let people into the league because I know that somehow and someday, they will serve my purpose."

He looked back at the door. I wasn't sure why he was saying this, was he trying to tell me he did not see my purpose? "My daughter is very affectionate towards you. Both of them really, although I know one is more willing to give you up than the other." He paused, sighing slightly. "I don't like the idea of my daughters being hurt. You must understand this, they are both very dear to me and I plan on keeping them from harms way for as long as I can." I looked at Ra's, my eyes studying his expression. Was he toying with me? Threatening me? Either way, I didn't like it.

"I would never harm Rayna or Talia." I saw Ra's smile and give a short laugh. I was becoming frustrating by his inconsistent behavior; it made him impossible to read.

"I'm glad we agree on one thing. Here's the deal Bane." He was looking at me again, I could feel the pressure of the next words he was going to say; it would be the difference between if I will become a league member or not. "Us Brothers, fight to save the innocent, in many ways. We fight the injustices of the world, we fight to rid the corrupt and as a man with many layers of filth and blood on my hands, I would never wish this life upon my daughters, but I fear that I already have." He paused, still watching me.

"Talia is far too gone down this path, the league has become her life, much like it was mine at her age. I cannot save her; she will die for my cause and the league's purpose just like every other Brother. Rayna, she can still be saved. She is scared of this life, of harming others and creating mayhem and chaos; she doesn't like it. However, she thinks that the only way to impress me and to have my compassion and love is to be more like her sister." I heard the frustration behind his tone, the sadness in his eyes. Who would have guessed the great Ra's Al Ghul had a soft spot, or a soft side. At the same time, most would say the same about me but what most people forget is that everyone is born with the ability to love, some people just lose that ability as they go through their life or they refuse to let it into their life from the beginning.

I always admired and loved the idea of a life beyond that prison. I fantasized about it every day I was down there, I made myself accept that even if there was no love, compassion or innocence in that prison, it still existed out there; out in the world. Love never left my life; I never disallowed it. I was just unable to love people; they were not the things I loved in this world.

When Talia was born, it was the moment that I could finally get confirmation that what I loved, existed. But I saw her slowly become corrupt, hateful and spiteful in that pit and I knew that if she still had any chance of being the innocent child she once was, she would have to leave. So I made sure that happened, but when she came to get me, I knew I had waited too long to free her from that prison. She was no longer innocent, she no longer loved things unconditionally; in her eyes everyone had a purpose, much like her father.

Then there was Rayna. She talked about death like she knew it, she talked tough but she was far from it, I couldn't help that it always amused me she tried so hard to be something she wasn't. I saw the compassion she had for others, for the work she did and for Talia even though she caused her fear. Rayna was what gave me hope that the innocence I believed to exist on this earth, could. She didn't understand that though, she didn't understand why I kissed her, why I wanted to protect her.

I would have to tell Talia soon that she was no longer the person I deemed worthy of protection. That it was her sister that was able to embody what I loved in this world. I couldn't ask Rayna to lie, it wasn't something she could do and it wasn't something I ever should have asked her to do.

"I want you to protect her." Ra's words brought me out of my deep thought. "Think of it as somewhat like a body guard. I know it isn't what you would want from this league but Rayna is very much the hope and the reason my men continue to fight, why they fight and die for me and my cause willingly. Because they see what they fight to protect, the type of person that deserves to live free, to live without malice and hatred being brought into their world." He looked away, finally studying something else in the room beside myself.

"She will allow you to protect her Bane, but she must never know. Until the day comes where you know she cannot live without you being with her, she must never know. That is your mission, to protect Rayna at whatever costs and to never let her die." His voice grew dark and his eyes were back onto mine. "You will die before that day comes Bane, do you understand? I will kill you myself if you are ever alive after my daughter is gone from this world." I smiled at his threat. He threatened me on something that wasn't necessary. I was already prepared to die for Rayna, to save her and protect her from anything that was willing or wanting to harm her.

"When that day comes, her death will be a cause of old age and I will be glad to die the day that she leaves this world." Ra's watched me and then smiled.

"Welcome to the League of Shadows, Bane. Now we will start your training."

* * *

"That is why that day will never come Rayna. I will never allow you to leave this world unless I am too feeble to protect you, but even death at an old age cannot be stopped." I smiled, I knew that what Bane was talking about was dark, but all I heard was him talking about us at an old age. Together.

"I would be okay with dying at an old age Bane; as long as you are with me. Promise me that." I spoke softly as my hand rested on his. I saw the smile in his eyes.

"Of course." He got up and grabbed the empty plate of food from my lap. "Now, where are we to go?" I dropped back into the multiple pillows that lay scattered over the bed. I didn't want to make any more decisions; I was mentally exhausted from today and yesterday.

"Somewhere cold. There has to be a league house where it's cold."

"There is a place in the north west territories. Rural, log cabin." I nodded once he started to talk. I didn't care; if it followed my criteria of cold, then I was okay with it. We sat in silence for a while, I could hear the scratching of pen meeting paper, Bane would be writing my father of where we would reside. Somehow without me knowing, they had become partners in keeping me safe. I sighed and turned to my side, the feeling was daunting. How was I that important to all of them? How did they all see me as the reason for hope in this world?

"Bane?" I heard the pen stop scratching against the paper; he was listening to me. "Why me? Why am I the reason those men fight, why my brothers die." I heard him get up and the floor creak under his weight. I felt his callused hands wrap around my cheeks and pull my face to look at him. Slowly he pressed the mouthpiece of his mask against my lips, I could feel the slight heat from his breath brush against my skin. I closed my eyes, reliving the memories of the time I felt his lips against mine.

"For the exact reason that you don't understand." He paused, the rumble to his voice shaking my nerves. There was a spark I felt in my stomach, something that made me crave not only Bane's voice, Bane's attention, but his touch as well. "You don't see yourself as anything or anyone special. You think of yourself as a normal person. You act how you think everyone else should act and behave, you treat others how you think they should be treated, yet you will love them all unconditionally even if you see them as evil or bad; you never blame them for their hatred towards others." His eyes searched mine; I knew he was talking about himself. I always knew that there was an anger that grew inside of Bane, and I always feared that venom would be the thing to bring it out of him, but I never thought of me being the reason it was contained. It just further reminded me that I could never leave Bane, for my sake and for his.

"You've never blamed me for hating this world, you never disregarded it either. You always accepted that it was a part of who I was and you never judged me for that. Never, has anyone ever done that. You don't know what I have done to others, what I have wanted to do and what I am capable of Rayna. I fear that you would hate me for that." I placed my hands on his cheeks, wanting to reassure him that he could never do anything to drive me away, I understood that he had to be violent at times; I understood.

"I know," he said with a hint of a smile, "you understand, but that's the reason Rayna. If we all acted like that, if everyone in this world was like you, there would be no anger, no corruption. Just love, compassion, innocence and understanding." The things Bane admired about this world. The reason's he fought, why he protected me, and the others before me. "You are special Rayna. There are very few like you left in this world and I will never let you be harmed." I pressed my lips against his mask, keeping my eyes closed but knowing that his were fully open. When I pulled my face back and slowly opened my eyes, I saw Bane's dancing while watching me, and the spark inside of me growing stronger.

"You should include in your letter that I require all my medical equipment to be shipped to the house we're going to." I gave Bane a loving smile. "I have to keep you alive." I heard him laugh and it caused me to grin. I loved hearing his laugh, his moments of joy; it was always special to me.

"You do not have to worry about protecting me, Rayna. That is not your job." I scowled at him and crossed my arms.

"Well excuse me." I said, hopping out of bed. "But I am your doctor and you are still my patient, so sit down and do as your told." I paused as I looked at Bane, my arms crossed and my eyes slightly narrowed but he was just smiling back at me. "Besides, let me have this tiny amount of control in my life since you and my father are content on controlling the rest of it." Bane stood up and walked over to me, holding my shoulders in his hands.

"Are you saying you don't want our protection?" He asked, curious and his tone challenging.

"No, don't try to twist my words. What I am _saying_, is that between my father and yourself you have managed to plan practically my whole life and continue to do so. My medicine was the only thing I had control over, it was the only time when _both_ of you listened to me without question. Don't take that away from me." Bane just smiled and then glanced past me to the table with his paper and pen still laying there from earlier.

"It has already been sent." He paused, looking back at my confused and slightly annoyed composure. "And you have a power complex." I burst with laughter and hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"You have no right telling people they have a power complex, mister 'I have to protect everything I love'. If anyone has that complex," I poked his chest, "it's you." I looked up at him and smiled but I saw the worry and concern in his eyes.

"You don't want my protection?" He simply asked.

"No, no it's not that. I was just—" As I stumbled over my words to try to apologize to Bane I saw the corner of his eyes start to crinkle. My words quickly stopped and I started to scowl at him. "It's been a long time since you've tried to get a rise out of me." I growled.

Bane grabbed my waist with one arm and pulled me against his chest. "I know, but I find it irresistible. I missed it." I wrapped my arms around his neck and placed my head against his slowly rising chest. "Can you blame me?" I nodded vigorously.

"Yes. Yes I can, but I know that won't stop you." I looked up at him and smiled. "I love you Bane so don't stop who you are because I get frustrated." He smiled and looked out the window to Gotham. Nodding once, letting me know that he wouldn't.

* * *

**Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next few will be more Bane/Rayna and less plot structure but to answer a lot of questions, the time is now roughly around the start of Batman Begins so the Nolanverse plot has started. *Announcer voice* Let the games begin!**

**Thank you to those who have reviewed and sent me PM's. I absolutely love you all and I cannot express that enough. You are all amazing and kind people for following my story and encouraging me to continue, some in a more violent but loving way ;) Also for everyone who has favorited this story, I am greatly honored and I can only hope that I continually impress or at least that I keep on meeting everyone's standards.  
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**On that note, even though this story is a decent length into it's journey, I am always open to feedback and suggestions and if there is anything that ever happens in the story that you could have pictured differently or would have liked to see happen instead or in the future, let me know because I love new ideas and new views of how Bane and Rayna's story should unfold.  
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**Anywho, i'm now rambling. i will try to update soon! I have to update my other Batman fic before I update this one again. (I think I promised myself this last time but I couldn't resist Bane).  
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**MUCH LOVE x INFINITY!  
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**Narrie  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay I am legit so freaking sorry for how late this has come out! I promised this chapter a week ago but life has been busy and I've had major writers block for every single story I have written. -.-'' it sucked!**

**Anywho, I really hope you all enjoy the chapter and I will be getting chapter 17 asap. Luckily for all of you, my writer's block ended for this story but that's it :( Writer's block has become the bane of my existence. (Oh ho ho ho. So funny)  
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**An...y...ways... Enjoy!  
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Chapter Sixteen

"So my father was the reason you decided to become my protector?" I finally asked Bane the question that had been bothering me since he explained why he was still taking orders from my father. The conversation was heavy enough, knowing that I was one of the main aspects behind my father's impeccable ability to lead his troops, and to convince his men, my brothers, to die for his cause—for our cause. A sigh escaped my lips as the heaviness dawned on me again.

"No." Bane simply replied, his eyes closed while he sat in the leather chair across from me. We were on our way to our hide-away. More so, we are on our way to a small town that would then have someone fly us via helicopter to our rural cabin in the woods. I could tell Bane wasn't fond of flying, he wouldn't let me open any of the blinds so I could look out the windows and he wouldn't walk around, I understood why though.

He had spent so much of his life dreaming of freeing himself from the constraints and restrictions that prison gave him from birth, he didn't like feeling trapped or to be in a cage. I saw how his muscles clenched, how he slightly grinded his teeth as he closed his eyes and held his head in his hands. He was uneasy, on edge, and it wasn't right. Not to me at least.

Bane finally looked up at me, slight hopelessness in his eyes. "I knew before that and I would be here anyways if your father hadn't already arranged it. Don't worry about silly things." He put his head back down into his palms. I let out a heavy sigh as I leaned into my chair. It was a long flight and I was bored between not being able to look out my window and having Bane for a grumpy conversationalist; when he was in a sour mood, all I got was short and curt responses. "You don't like my answer?" He asked.

"It's not that, I'm just bored. You aren't one for talking right now and you get uneasy when I look out the window." I saw him give a sharp laugh.

"We will be there soon enough." I slouched into my chair and looked towards the plane's wall. I wasn't happy with his nonchalant attitude. I didn't mind it mostly, I even found it charming at times, but when I wanted something that he wasn't allowing me to have, I became frustrated. I wasn't a person to go against someone's wishes, and I couldn't deliberately do something knowing it would make them uncomfortable, but at times I felt like he thought of it as a way to control me, true or not it's still how I felt. I glared at him and then quickly looked back at the plastic sheet that covered the window.

I sat there, staring for what seemed like hours but was more realistically like a few minutes. Jumping as I saw a hand come into my view, I watched as it gripped the plastic panel and pulled up the cover. I heard the chair creak as Bane relaxed back into it, my eyes gazing out to see the white covered land that we were flying over. "Thank you." I mumbled, as I felt bad for my previous thoughts. Bane would never manipulate me; he never has and never will.

From the beginning Bane was always true to his actions. He promised to protect me and has done so ever since, he never lies to me, and holding the truth wasn't the same. If I had ever asked him if he promised my father to do these things, he would have told me, but I never thought to ask. Bane would never try to manipulate me; he would never use my kindness against me.

He loves me. I was loved, but was a feeling I had to get used to, I had to remind myself that Bane wasn't kind to me because he wanted to use me and that it was the polar opposite. He wanted to protect me from those people, from the powers that would abuse me and destroy the person I was—he would die before that happened.

I felt a pain in my chest and my breath shortened as the thought crossed my mind. Memories of when I thought I would lose him, and that I possibly already had, flashed before my eyes and I reached out to grab Bane's hand. A smile started to form on my lips as the lullaby I sang for him rang through my mind.

Bane gave my hand a slight squeeze, letting me know that he was there for whatever I was worrying about in my mind and that he would be with me the moment I asked him to. He had to understand, he wasn't one for talking and out of the two of us, I was the chatty Cathy and even I wasn't an enthusiastic conversationalist. I knew he was always thinking, always calculating like myself and that's what made our silences so comfortable. We never had to say anything to know that we were thinking of each other, loving and caring thoughts running through our minds constantly.

The stewardess came out to see us and inform us that we were about to descend. Bane simply nodded, barely giving her a moment of his attention. I couldn't help but smile, I never had to worry about Bane looking at another woman how he looked at me, he wasn't one to stare at pretty things.

"I will hunt before all the animals go into hibernation and disperse for the winter, that way you have food. We should already have canned vegetables and fruits in the cabin for us though, dry foods as well." He paused and I opened my mouth to voice my concern but Bane cut me off before a sound could come out. "They have my IV there waiting for me too. No need to worry." I saw the smile in his eyes, his sense of confidence in knowing what I was thinking and the satisfaction he felt when he found out he was right in my thought process.

The plane dropped slightly in altitude and I felt Bane's body seize, yet his hand still stayed perfectly relaxed; he made sure not to squeeze my hand that was wrapped within his, made sure not to hurt it or possible even break it. "It will be okay Bane." I said, looking at him with loving and concerned eyes. It was strange to see him like this, panicked. "Worrying doesn't suit you." I heard him laugh and saw his eyes dart up to look at me, obviously remembering the time when he told me that fear didn't suit me, when I lost myself and yelled at him like a crazy woman.

"So you can tell me what does and doesn't suit me, but I can't do that for you?" He chimed, a smile present in his voice. I let out a small laugh as I leaned toward him.

"Yes." I nodded once as I spoke. A smile spread across my face as I looked back up towards Bane, his eyes dancing. My body shook as the plane touched-down and Bane was oddly relaxed when it happened. Maybe it was because he knew that this experience was almost over, or simply because his mind was occupied on me, as it always was when his eyes moved and danced like that.

When the plane stopped, the stewardess presented us with large leather jackets that were fur lined, both different sizes and obvious which one was for each of us. Grabbing the large one, I passed it to Bane, and then grabbed the smaller one for myself. "You will need these. It's really cold out there, however there will be winter clothing in your home." She smiled at both of us. "Safe travels."

I nodded once as I walked past her. "Thank you." I heard Bane walk by and not say anything, the woman's gasp informed me that Bane had finally looked at her, his stare coming off more as a glare than a 'thank you for your service', as it usually would. I let out a small laugh as I started to walk down the stairs, it amazed me how two sided he acted, treating me completely different than the rest of the world. Hearing his slightly heavier than normal steps behind me, I knew he would hear me if I spoke.

"Shall we go straight to the travel agent?" I heard Bane grunt in agreement, obviously still unsettled from the smallness of the plane's cabin, but I could tell he was slowly calming down. I just nodded and continued to walk forward, not pressing Bane for more than a nod. I had always known he was a man of few words, and I enjoyed that fact, enjoyed the comfortable silences or the small gestures that said so much. It's what brightened my day and let me know that he cared, and that he wanted me to know that he cared.

When we arrived at the travel agent, the clerk practically jumped out of her skin when she saw Bane's mask. I heard a slight chuckle come from him; he liked it and found it amusing. I smiled too, only for the reason that her reaction was once mine, I never showed it to Bane and I would never admit it to him; but I was once scared of what he would become, what he still can become.

"Hello." I made an effort to sound overly sweet. Something about small-town folk told me that they were used to kind and normal people, not an unknown man wearing a mask towering over you. She gave me a weak smile, her gaze shifting to Bane one last time. "Please forgive the mask. He just had surgery on his vocal cords and this is really the only way he can communicate with anyone." I placed my hand on Bane's shoulder, his gaze quickly switching from the clerk to me at my interaction. His eyes were confused, he didn't understand why I was acting like this, but luckily the average person who didn't understand Bane like I did, would have thought his eyes were sad.

"Oh." The woman let out a heartfelt sigh. "I am so sorry, Sir. I hope you have a healthy recovery." She smiled at us, no sign of fear in her anymore. Bane was no longer a mystery. From what I said and because of my actions that followed, the naive woman came to her own conclusions. Bane was a patient; obviously she victimized him right away by that point. His mask was the only way he could communicate; she's heartfelt for him, feeling compassion and empathy for his situation. And finally, the small touch on his shoulder demanding his gaze right away meant that we were together, maybe even lovers in her mind. So she saw us as a loving couple, who had to triumph over his surgery and the only reason he wears that mask is so he can communicate with me; her own little love story happening right in front of her. I knew any small-town worker would eat that story up. "Now what can I do for you?"

"We should have drop-off information for Al Ghoul." I looked up at Bane and smiled. "His full name is Allen, but he was never fond of that name." The clerk just smiled, eating the lies I fed her. I felt Bane sigh heavily, he wasn't happy about something but I had no idea what. I focused back onto the Clerk, her fingers vigorously hitting the keys of her keyboard.

"Yes, you have scheduled a helicopter tour. How romantic." She smiled at me and I gave her a meek smile back, something in my gut told me that I should stop being so unnaturally friendly, stop misleading this woman. "Your pilot will be ready in about 10 minutes. Please, wait in here and he will come get you." Bane instantly turned and walked towards the sitting area, but he continued walking until he left the agency.

I turned around and smiled at the lady. "He likes the cold. Have a good day." I quickly followed Bane. "What is wrong?" I asked, a bit harsher than I should have let my tone be, but I couldn't help it. I hated it when I didn't understand Bane, when I didn't know what he was thinking. It made me feel distressed, and made me feel like a part of me was missing.

Bane just looked at me and then slowly looked away again. He wasn't angry with me, disappointed maybe? Appalled? I didn't understand why he was upset, why he was acting this way but I knew it was because of something I did; I felt sick.

I walked around the corner, I could see the helicopter being prepped and I knew that soon Bane and I would be alone and only then, could I press the matter and get the answers I wanted but were scared to ask for. I leaned against the wall of the building and crouched down, placing my head in my hands I focused on my breathing, trying to clear my mind and send my thoughts to a different place. But I only saw Bane, my father and more Bane. I sighed, feeling defeated by my own mind and frustrated from the lack of control I felt over my own life and brain.

"Miss, the helicopter is ready. Shall I go get your husband?" I started to walk towards the helicopter.

"He's not my husband." I said with a bitter tone. We weren't even on speaking terms according to Bane and we were far from being husband and wife. As I sat in the helicopter, a cold breeze whipped through the cabin, sending chills down my spine and causing me to shiver slightly. The helicopter dipped when Bane first stepped in, the seats shook as he sat down and my shiver turned into a tremble as another gust of wind blew through the cabin.

I knew Bane was watching me, seeing the tremble that took over my body and I slowly started to hunch forward, trying what I could to heat my body. I felt his arm reach around me, wanting to pull me towards him but I shook away, moving slightly closer to the opposite end of the cushioned bench we sat on. Bane's eyes hardened, a very strong look of stubbornness, and annoyance at my equally stubborn ways. Once more I felt his arm wrap around me but when I tried to move away again, his grip quickly tightened around me and Bane pulled my close, his warmth already engulfing me.

I didn't even attempt to protest, my body quickly melted into Bane's, his warmth softening me and making me forget, momentarily, that I was angry with him. Another gust of wind blew through and I started the shiver again. All I heard was a sharp grunt and I was then picked up, as if I was as light as a flower, and placed where Bane once was. Looking up at the man who had moved me and quickly swapped our places, I didn't understand how he did it or why, until the next burst of wind that whipped through the cabin.

Bane's body acted like a shield, blocking the majority of the cold wind and still giving me the heat of his body. I loved his thoughtfulness. In compliance and to show that I agreed with the change of position, I hugged his torso and formed my body to his once more. The pilot finally sat into his seat, flicked a bunch of switches and then looked back at us.

I felt Bane give a nod, signaling to the pilot that we were ready to leave. I didn't dare move from my warm spot, and I didn't care to. I felt the warmth start to cover my body, masking the bone chilling cold that was residing in my body. The edge left too, I wasn't angry at Bane anymore, I was just concerned. His ability to put aside his obvious dissatisfaction for me to make sure I was warm surprised me, it made me feel comforted and I knew that even though Bane was angry, my comfort is still more important to him. I closed my eyes and rested against Bane for the rest of the trip, in silent serenity, letting his chest make my body rise and fall with every breath; it was soothing.

When we landed down, I was fighting to stay awake. Between the warmth I was receiving from Bane and the weight of the entire day of traveling finally getting to me, I was exhausted. I felt familiar arms wrap around me and before I could even open my mouth to protest, Bane lifted me up into his arms and carried me to the inside our small cabin.

The fire was roaring with life and I felt my spirits perk at the warmth I felt once indoors. I didn't mind the cold; on most days I enjoyed it. It made my senses sharper and most people couldn't survive in it. All I needed was to be in winter clothes when I was outside and I would be fine next time; I made sure to make the mental note. Bane placed me down on my feet and once he knew I was stable, he walked past me, taking off his tan leather jacket and laying it over the back of the closest chair.

"You shouldn't lie." He stated and I felt, in some way, dumbfounded that was the reason he was upset with me, because I played that clerk's heartstrings and made her do as I wished.

"I had to do it. You saw the way she looked at you, if she was frightened then she would have told other people and—"

"Not if I threatened her not to. Rayna, fear is a stronger enemy and weapon then deceit. The moment she finds a flaw in your lie, the picture you painted will be gone. The fear she felt when I walked through that door was real until you discredited it with your lies." I let out an exasperated breath, feeling a fire burn inside of me. I was no longer weary from the days travel, I was furious that this man was trying to make me believe that him becoming a monster in everyone's eyes is a better approach than the vague truth.

"Why are you mad at me? Because I gave a white lie? Everything I said was fact, I just gave as much detail as she needed. You did go through surgery, that mask _is_ the only way you can communicate with others. You aren't mad that I did it, but that I saw it as an option and for the first time, I was the one who convinced someone to do as we requested and to not ask questions. I just did it in a cleaner fashion" I felt bold even though my heart beat against my chest. I already regretted my boasting, and cursed my hot-headedness for allowing it. Bane angry was not a good thing; I had seen it before and it was bad enough then, I don't want to imagine what it is like with all of the Venom coursing through his veins.

"I am mad at you because you lied when it wasn't necessary and because you obviously refuse to understand." Bane looked at me, his anger turning into defeat. A sigh escaped his mask and he put his jacket back one. "Go to sleep. You have been through too much lately and it's clouding your judgment." I turned around and watched him grab the handle to the door. He had no possessions on him, no weapons or any protective equipment.

"Where are you going?" I asked abruptly, anger to my tone but I knew he heard the genuine hint of confusion somewhere under my rage. He pulled the door open with ease, allowing the cold wind to burst into the cabin.

"Hunting."

* * *

I didn't understand it. How could she not understand that lying and deceiving others is wrong and that she shouldn't do it, especially when it isn't necessary. It wasn't Rayna. Not my Rayna.

I remember how I thought of her at the beginning. This spit fire, hot headed, intelligent and endearing being who didn't care about anything but your character. She didn't care about your past or where you saw your future, all she cared about was who you were, as a person, friend or companion.

She was effortlessly kind and graceful, mysterious yet so readable. And most importantly, she always spoke what was on her mind. She never shied away from me, never hindered her words out of fear from my reaction, but I saw the way her eyes darted, just how they all look when they see me. Fear.

But that's what I wanted, right? I wanted to be feared by everyone, to have destruction follow in my wake, to have fearless followers who would die for my cause, for my will to rewrite this world and rid it of the corrupt that pollute our cities. That is what I have wanted since I first dreamed about leaving Peña Duro. So then why did I feel this weight in my chest, this excruciating emotional pain when I saw her eyes dart.

I walked further into the woods, my eyes were looking for tracks but I knew that even if I saw some, I wouldn't care. My mind was too consumed with other matters. I heard a snap of a twig behind me, and without having to process the action, my body reacted instantly. Turning around, I grabbed whatever it was that was behind me and reached for the throat.

"Bane!" The hushed figure jumped back and when I finally focused, I recognized the person; I just didn't understand why they were here.

"Azriel?"

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**On a semi-side-note. I'm thinking of getting a beta for this story just because I get paranoid that I don't edit the story well enough. I'm looking for someone who's good with punctuation, grammar and all that good stuff but also someone who has input and that I can bounce idea's off of for the story. If you're interested just shoot me a PM telling me why you would wanna Beta this story :)**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The next may start/stay Bane POV. But I have to dart, have errands to run!  
**

**Please read and review, let me know what you think. Maybe why you think Azriel is up in the middle of nowhere with them. You know me, I always love hearing from everyone! Also on that note, thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for all of your amazing support! I never fail to make a stupid grinning face every time I read a review or receive an email saying I have a new favorite or follow. So thank you thank you thank you thank you! :D  
**

**Much Love!  
**

**Narrie  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Before you start, I want to give a lovely thank you to xXTron'sGirl13Xx for Beta-ing and doing a marvelous job at it too! I'm going to try putting out shorter chapters so that I will update more and not be a horrible person and only update once every 10 days because that isn't acceptable and you all have a right to spam my PM box telling me that I have to update or else *insert harmless threat here*.**

**With that, enjoy the next installment and tell me what you think! I always love hearing from readers, the good and the bad. It all comes with being a writer and I absolutely love it. So if you think my story is rubbish, tell me and tell me why. If you think it is marvelous, tell me and tell me what you like most so I can try to incorporate it more into the chapters. As much as I am writing this story for myself, I am writing it for you, the readers, more. And with that little rant over...  
**

**ENJOY!  
**

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Chapter Seventeen

"Hi." Azriel almost squeaked. He quickly relaxed once he saw my hand retract. I crossed my arms over my chest, not understanding why he was here and wishing he would hurry up and explain. There weren't supposed to be any other league members out here with us, it put me on edge.

Something wasn't right.

"Ra's…exiled me." He sounded hollow.

"I don't know what I did wrong!" He stopped, breathed for a moment then continued on, "He told me that I could no longer be with the league, that I was exiled along with you." He sounded desperate, like this whole time he had been looking for us, tracking our movements, he was hoping, possibly even praying, that I held the answer as to why Ra's exiled Azriel—but I didn't.

I looked him over, now fully taking in his appearance. His clothes were ratty, his shoes were worn to the soul and his jacket was non-existent. His normal charismatic face was sullen and distressed.

He wasn't a man who was being assisted by Ra's, he wasn't a spy; he was lost.

I took off my coat and my shoes, handing them over to Azriel. "Put these on. I will be back." I waited for him to grab my jacket before I walked off towards the cabin to grab him some proper clothes.

When I walked in, Rayna was sitting on the couch, facing the door and obviously awaiting my arrival. As soon as she saw me she jumped up and started to walk towards me, concern in her eyes. She was clearly taking my sour mood as me still being upset with her, which meant that she had no idea about Azriel, and she can't know.

That gave me even more reason to bring the clothes to Azriel and not him to our cabin. I had to figure out this mess before he came to Rayna and we both tried to make sorts of this man's story.

"Not right now. Build that fire and get this room as warm as you can get it. I will be back in ten minutes." That would give me enough time to talk to Azriel and then to get him into somewhere warm.

I went into our bedroom and grabbed the winter clothes that were meant for Rayna, they would better suit Azriel then mine.

When I walked back into the living room, Rayna stood in front of me. "Bane. What are you doing? What's wrong? I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I want to understand. Please, just talk to me." I saw tears forming in her eyes; I hated seeing her like this, upset and distraught.

I knew it was hard for her to not understand why I was mad at her earlier, but she doesn't understand why I cherished her innocence, why I didn't want that to be even slightly compromised. She couldn't understand and even if she was able to, now wasn't the time to explain.

"Rayna." I said, monotone. "I must go, I will be back in ten minutes." I walked and reached for the door handle but I heard her call after me.

"Then you will explain to me Bane. Promise?" A smile spread across my face. Without turning around I gave a simple nod then walked out the door, showing her that I agreed to her terms.

She was more stubborn than me at times, it drove me insane but I couldn't help but encourage her boldness, it always sparked that passionate fire inside of me.

I then left with haste—I felt a new sense of urgency to get to Azriel, as if I had taken too long.

When I returned to the spot that I had left not so long ago, I saw Azriel hunched over, shivering vigorously. This wasn't good.

Dropping the clothes I had brought, I picked Azriel up and started to run back to the cabin. I would grab the clothes later; Rayna would kill me if I prioritized them over her friend.

I lightly kicked my foot against the door, knowing if I used my normal strength, the door would be open already, the frame cracked and possibly even further damaged than that. Rayna was there in seconds opening the door, letting go a gasp, her face shocked and frightened.

I walked forward and she moved out of the way, still seemingly confused on why her friend was way out here in the middle of no where.

I lightly placed Azriel down on the couch; he was unconscious at this point.

"Grab some clothes and grab all the blankets we have." Rayna hurried to grab what I asked for as I started to strip Azriel from his damp clothing.

I smiled as I pictured the Azriel I remembered from the days spent at the League, his constant attempts to make me feel uncomfortable that he found me physically attractive always made me laugh—he would have found this moment just as amusing as me.

When Rayna returned, I stood up, allowing her to dress him in her clothing that had been packed in her suitcase. I took this time to put hot water on the stove, that way we would have tea ready for him when he woke up.

"He has Hypothermia. I found him in the woods—more like he found me, but his clothes were destroyed and damp." I paused as I turned to face the couch. "Your father exiled him." I started to walk towards the two, Rayna having Azriel's head on her lap as she started to run her hand over his face.

"Why?" She finally asked after I had started to wrap his body in blankets, wanting to create insulation.

I couldn't figure out why he would exile him at the same time that he exiled me. Ra's was known for doing things that nobody else understood, but this was different. I knew he took exiles very seriously, that's why he said he would exile me; so nobody would come looking. I was no longer part of the brotherhood.

Was I truly exiled along with Azriel?

"I'm not sure." I finally said, telling Rayna the absolute truth. I had fragments of ideas, possible logical reasons, but no hard facts. I would have to talk to Azriel before I came to a conclusion. I had now finished wrapping the blankets around Azriel's frail body and relaxed into a comfy chair.

"How did you know what to do?" Rayna asked, with genuine curiosity, after we had watched Azriel for sometime, wondering if he would join us anytime soon.

"I read all your books." I said with a smile, remembering the first book I had borrowed of hers and how I bent the spine. Her reaction was the most curious thing; she acted like her book was just as important and delicate as a patient.

It was odd and peculiar but it was her being Rayna—she always had specific methods of doing everything. I saw her smile, but when Azriel let out a small sound, her eyes darted to his face and her smile disappeared, turning into a firm line of worry.

I watched her as she watched him; with every blink I saw her features grow more and more sad, more distressed and more helpless.

Azriel was all she had left from her home, from her past. No doubt she was thinking that her father never meant for her to return. How her sister would never go out of her way to interact with Rayna past this point, and how she is, no doubt, already accustomed to a life without Rayna.

So all there was left was Azzy, her eccentric best friend who was a free spirit and a deadly spy.

What rested in her arms was all that remained of her happy childhood and I had to keep that alive.

Wanting to distract her, I knew that I had to give her something else to focus her distress on. Sighing heavily, I mentally prepared myself to open up and let Rayna into my life.

"I owe you an explanation." I saw her eyes meet mine, hopeful and almost relieved that I had kept to my word, not just agreed to pacify her for that moment so I could leave, or relieved that I did pacify her so I could get Azriel, either way her gaze was a small thank you that she would never be able to put into words.

"Darkness is what I know. After being surrounded by the dark souls of this world, it makes it easy to spot them—to see the corrupt, the hatred, and the venom in others, to see how contorted their souls are. And I know it's daunting for you to think of this, and to understand this, but you aren't that Rayna and it makes it easier to breathe. I feel a weight lifted off of my soul when I am near you, with you. I can't stand it when I am gone from you; my world becomes heavy and dark again. I miss that light—your light."

My heart beat against my chest as Rayna sat still, watching me and making it evident that thoughts were running through her mind a mile a minute, but she stayed quiet, waiting for me to continue if I so desired, which told me that I hadn't explained enough for her, but that I also haven't said anything that she disagreed with either—she would have let me know that.

"Lying is deceitful. Tricksters, low lives, and villains use deceit. I'm not saying you are that, but that's where it begins. Being able to lie and getting away with it." I let my head drop into my hands, feeling my true fears surfacing and gracing my lips before they fell out.

"You are a smart woman Rayna and I can tell, without your innocence, your anger would talk over. You are too gracious, too forgiving for your anger to reside in you long enough to build that hatred, that dark feeling that forms spite and dims your soul. You are pure of that, but I worry that you won't always be." I paused assessing my statements then continued on.

"You use your intelligence for good deeds; you would disarm a bomb instead of activating it; but I always fear that you are slowly slipping away from that. That you are going into a darker place and I can't stop you." I looked back up at her, the distress and anxiety I felt, evident in my eyes.

I saw her want to reach out and grab me, to comfort me and tell me that it would be okay. It's what she always did; it's what I wanted to hear right now but I knew I wouldn't.

I knew she would defend herself, talk about the moments where she thinks she can't help but go to a dark place in her mind, but she would still fail to see it my way.

She doesn't see the grander picture, what really makes someone evil; she's never been exposed to it like I have. She doesn't see herself as pure, as innocent and she feels pinned by the thought, wanting to rebel for freedom.

It's her own misunderstanding of the world that cages her, not me.

"It's funny." She finally said, a hopeless smile on her face. "Ever since venom I had been worrying the same thing. I see you allowing yourself to become this monster everyone else wants you to be and I feel helpless against it."

I felt my heart sink. That's why her eyes darted. She thought I was being a monster, or she was afraid that she would anger me and I would be like that with her. The thought made me feel sick to my stomach and empty at the same time, my mind almost floated away as I felt anger towards my fictional self.

"But." She said, bringing my attention back to her and away from my anger.

"You always have worried the same and it's just funny how that works out." She gave a half-hearted smile and dropped her gaze back to Azriel. "I'm sorry it's hard for me to see everything from your view, Bane."

She looked back up at me, tears forming in her eyes. My lips tightened and my nostrils flared, I hated seeing her like that. Her eyes slightly watery, holding back the tears out of pride but I knew she had to let them go, she needed to cry because she felt that pain, that distress and she had no other way of releasing that emotion.

I just couldn't ever do anything to stop her from feeling that way.

I couldn't protect her from that.

"Rayna…." She shook her head and gave a shaky laugh.

"I don't even know why I'm crying." She claimed, exasperated. I just smiled.

"It's okay." I said as I stood up and walked over to her, sitting lightly on the arm of the couch. I watched as my hand ran through her unruly hair. "Never be ashamed to cry around me Rayna, never fight it."

Her head rested against my thigh as she started to cry against me. It was like her to only move her torso, keeping Azriel's comfort in mind.

I just continued to stroke her hair as she cried and let out all the pain, anger, and anguish she felt about the past few days, and about seeing Azriel in the state he was in.

It wasn't until Azriel moved that Rayna moved, her attention instantly on the somewhat conscious man who lay on the couch. "Azzy?" She called out, hopeful.

"Ray—?" He croaked back.

* * *

**So...what did you think? Let me know in a review or in a PM :D Like I said, I love hearing from everyone so please don't hesitate to voice your opinion ^^**

**LOVE FOR EVERYONE!  
**

**Narrie  
**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry for the wait! This chapter took me longer than I anticipated to write. I will give a warning now, that there will be a part of this chapter that will be rated M. I have marked it with /-/ for those who do not wish to read it. You have been warned.**

**Also, I want to thank all of you for your ongoing support! You are all amazing readers and I value all of your input and reviews and everything. Just yeah, you all need to just stay awesome. Also a lovely thank you to my beta xXTron'sGirl13Xx**

**With that, Enjoy!**

* * *

"Azzy!" I exclaimed, excited and giddy that the friend I thought might not return to me was awake and talking. I wanted to hug him, to squeeze him and to cry but I refraimed, sat still and only let a single tear escape despite my efforts.

I felt Bane's finger touch my cheek and wipe the tear away before Azzy noticed.

I watched Bane as he walked over to the stove to most likely prepare tea but my attention was quickly grabbed by Azzy's question. "Where am I?" I looked down at him and smiled.

"Somehow you tracked us to the north of Canada and you found Bane in the woods." I looked down sad for a moment. "You had hypothermia." My hand ran over his forehead and through his hair, the obvious worry and despair in my voice.

"I thought I would have lost you." I said as my eyes started to fill with tears, blurring my vision, yet I could still make out that Azriel's head was slightly shaking and his familiar and warm smile started to spread across his face.

"Ray, I have had worse than Hypothermia. You know that it takes a lot to end me, I'm a fighter till the end." I shook my head and gave a short laugh.

"With your track record, if you weren't the freak that you are, you would have already been dead." I saw his smile brighten as his hand lightly slapped my arm.

"Exactly! See? No need to worry, I'm already feeling better—although, do you mind unwrapping me?" He paused for a moment looking down at his body and allowing the perfect time for his tone change to be dramatic enough.

"I feel like a sausage roll."

I tried to compress my laughter at his over exaggerated sass, but I couldn't help but burst with laughter and giggles; it felt nice to do.

"I missed you." I said as I hugged my dear friend and then stood up, readying myself to unwrap him . "Even if you are a sausage roll." We smiled and laughed with each other, allowing ourselves a momentary escape from the heavy situation that awaited us outside of our happy bubble.

I didn't know how Azriel was able to light up a room with his smile and his personality, without fail he always made me happy, made me forget about the hardships that followed in my shadow.

Glancing towards Bane, I saw how his eyes were on me. I mouthed 'I love you' to him, causing his eyes to brighten and the crinkles near his eyes to deepen. Giving a slight nod, I knew he did the same to me.

A smile spread across my face, infecting my whole body with joy. I had the two men who mattered in my life, the two men who, without them I was nothing and with them I was unstoppable. They were my life, they were what I lived for now and I knew it was the same for them.

This would be the start to a family for all of us. The family we all never had.

I felt my heart sink at the thought of family, for my father and my sister. I couldn't hate Talia anymore, not after what my father told me—it just hurt more to know that she would never care for me, never be kind to me.

I couldn't help but think it was all my fault, if I wasn't born, my mother never would have gone insane, Talia would have never had a little sister she would have had in her life that was motherless, she never would have felt compelled to distance herself from me, to keep me at arms length.

Talia wasn't only preventing me from having a sister, but she tore that relationship from her own life too; she made the sacrifice for both of us and carries that around on her shoulders.

I knew now, looking back at it all, that it had always bothered her.

She wasn't jealous that Bane had chosen me, she resented the fact that I never knew what she had to sacrifice for me to stay pure, to stay the way I am today which was the one thing that made Bane fall for me at the beginning.

She caused that attraction on his part; she was furious with herself for creating that and furious with me for not thinking of what she had to sacrifice for me to be happy, for me to have Bane.

And my father—I didn't even know what to think when it came to thoughts about him. I felt abandoned by the only parent I had, the father that told me no matter what, I was his world and that he would always love me.

This wasn't how you would show your child love, you wouldn't send them away and prevent them from coming home and then exile their only other connection to home without warrant.

I didn't know what to think because it all didn't seem real, it was like this was all a very bad and prolonged dream that I would eventually wake up from, but I knew that thought was just hopeful thinking.

I knew, deep down, that this was my new reality. My family, in order for them to protect me, abandoned me.

They had abandoned me.

"Rayna?" It was Bane's voice calling my name now. I looked up from him, slightly dazed.

His hands cupped my jaw, holding my eyes to look at his. He was worried, concerned but I could tell what he was about to say would be finite, he had that stubborn calmness to him that he always had when he wanted something his way and his way only.

"Do not worry about your father or your sister. Together, we will figure it out."

I tried to look away, I didn't want to talk about it, but he held my face where it was with ease.

"Rayna—" his tone made me succumb to his dominance. He sounded hurt that I would try to ignore him. I had been wrong, he wasn't being finite with his words, he wanted me to listen, to open up and not hold it in any longer.

"Please, do not think you are alone. Know that both Azriel and I are here for you."

"Yup!" I heard Azriel chime in, agreeing with Bane but a smile obviously present in his voice.

"Just not now, please." Bane nodded and released me from my grip. I looked at Azriel, who was now comfortably unwrapped from his blankets and sipping on some tea.

I could smell the aroma from here and I recognized it immediately; it was the tea I always gave to every patient I had back home. I suddenly felt nauseous as homesickness hit me hard.

I couldn't deny that I missed it.

"Is there any chance you could get us home Azzy? I'm sure if I went there, that it would all be fixed, right?" Azzy looked at my warily, on edge from my question but hiding it fairly well.

Unfortunately for him, I had grown up with Azriel and I knew him like the back of my hand.

"Maybe eventually. I would have to get back to normal and get in contact with people. Give me a week." I gave a weak smile, which turned into a yawn. It had been a long day and I was yet to sleep.

"Go to bed, I will be fine to make myself some food eventually." My brows creased but he put a hand up to stop me, something that oddly reminded me of Bane.

"Excuse me Missy, but you are not my doctor. As far as I'm concerned Bane is since he's been the one nursing me—your bedside manner is always appreciated though Ray, never doubt that." He gave a cheeky smile as I slowly shook my head. "And I'm pretty sure my Doctor here agrees that I am fine to be on my own so both of you have a great night and, you know, thanks for saving my life."

I grabbed Bane's hand and started walking towards the bedroom, fully aware that at moments when Azzy left no room for argument, he was more stubborn than a pack of mules.

"There's no hope in arguing." I said as I felt Bane resist at my initial tug.

"Night Azzy and call if you need anything or just come into the room."

"I wouldn't mind getting a peak at your fine man." I heard Bane chuckle and I couldn't help but let out a sigh at what my _dear_ friend Azzy assumed would be happening.

"We sleep with clothes on, stupid."

"Well that's no fun." I heard him pout.

"I take back the fact that I missed you. I don't miss you anymore." I said, grumpy and annoyed with his sassiness but deep down, I knew that it wouldn't be Azriel without it.

"That's no way to treat a guest." I looked back at him and smiled, shaking my head. He just beamed a smile my way and waved goodnight, his positive disposition become infectious.

Bane walked past me as I stopped to look at Azzy. Waving goodnight, I walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

"I'm glad he's here." I hummed a reply, not really knowing why Bane would be glad for Azriel to be here; I never thought that they were close or even on friendly terms.

"You brighten up when he's around." He said too mater-of-fact for it to be romantic or sweet, it just left me feeling guilty for Bane thinking that way.

"I brighten up around you." I said, trying to soften the blow to my guilt more than for Bane.

He just lightly shook his head as I turned to face him. He stood beside our bed, still fully clothed, his arms loosely crossed against his chest.

"Yes, but it's a different brightness. You never laugh and sound that joyful around me and that's not a bad thing." He hurried to say as I opened my mouth to protest.

"That's why I said I am glad he is here, not that I am upset you aren't like that around me."

I wanted to protest but I knew better by now, that would only cause a useless argument that would only wind back to Bane saying what he just said but in different words and then I would finally admitting defeat.

"I'm glad he's here too." I felt the tears start to surface and I finally allowed myself to give in. I hurried into Bane's arms and pressed my face against his chest, finally feeling safe enough to let go of my emotions.

"Hmmm." Bane's voice rumbled through his chest and vibrated my skin, soothing me and causing me to hold him closer. I felt horrible for keeping him in the dark, for not explaining my mood swings, what worried me and caused me to ignore what was going on around me.

I knew that he had noticed, and I knew that it was obvious to him that I was struggling with something, yet he managed to keep his distance. He allowed me space to breathe and time to figure it all out—or at least as much as I could. He let me know that he was there for me and that I was not alone.

It was times like this that I felt like I didn't deserve him.

"I don't deserve you." My thoughts came out and I felt his muscles go rigid. "You know that? You are too good to me and—"

"Don't." Bane stopped me, a threatening tone to his voice. "Rayna, I am there for you because I know you would do the same for me. "

He pulled away from me so I could look him in the eyes. "You are my love, there will never be another person like you in my life and I vowed myself to you in whatever way that is. As a bodyguard, a companion—a lover."

My gaze dropped as I felt myself blush at the last option of what Bane saw himself as to me. I had been feeling myself being more physically attracted to him lately, I started to feel his muscles, see his figure and stature as appealing and almost slightly arousing.

Thoughts of Bane and I becoming more…physical had come to mind, but I was too nervous to make them more than thoughts.

I felt Bane place a finger below my chin and pull my face to look back up at him, his eyes intent on mine.

"You are my world Rayna and without you I would not be the same. You are what makes me who I am today, you are the reason I am not so angry, you are my innocence and without you, I am empty."

"Bane…" His thumb was placed over my lips to silence me.

"I know, I try to keep you pure in an almost obsessive behavior but you must understand. I am no longer worthy of the characteristic of being innocent, of being clean of bloodshed and corrupt ways. It is with you that I can have that, and that I can allow myself to be without those things. When you left for Gotham—" His eyes looked to the side, his face still staying in the same position.

"You can ask Azriel, I wasn't a pleasant person to be around. I was aggravated, angry, agitated. I wanted to be with you, I didn't understand why you weren't there with me. I hated it and that was the original reason your father sent me out."

He stopped, seeming to realize what he was leading up to, " He knew if he didn't bring me to you, I would have eventually done a critical amount of damage to the league."

My hands ran up and down his arms, feeling an overwhelming sense of love and passion for Bane. I was relived that he understood why I was upset with him being mad at me for straying from my innocence, and relived at the fact that Bane needed me just as much as I needed him.

I wanted to kiss him, to feel his lips against my skin. Absentminded, my hand started to trace the lines of his mask, they felt every curved and edged surface, and Bane just watched me, his eyes dancing.

"It is time for bed." He said, almost in a rushed tone. I nodded and walked over to my side of the bed but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bane start to take off his clothes and my attention was drawn.

I watched as he took off his jacket, and then his shirt that had now become slightly too small due to the continuing growth in his size. His chest was chiseled and powerful, the outlines of his muscles protruding from his skin—I felt a burning sensation start to fluster in my stomach.

I turned away before he could notice my longing stare, the obvious desire in my eyes.

"Don't look, I'm getting changed." I mumbled, the blood rushing to my cheeks as my mind painted the image I had just seen, vividly.

I looked through my drawers, searching for the pajamas I wished to wear that night. Once I found them, I pulled them out.

I hadn't heard Bane reply, but I took his silence as him patiently waiting for me to tell him he could look at me; it's what we always did.

I pulled off my shirt, sighing as I stretched my body, my muscles oddly sore.

When I relaxed from my stretch, my back met Bane's bare chest and I felt my body go rigid but, at the same time, the burning sensation grew stronger.

I felt his mask press against my neck, meaning to resemble a kiss and triggering my mind to remember what the touch of his lips against my skin felt like. Shivers ran up and down my spine as Bane's fingers lightly traced my arms.

I closed my eyes and relaxed against him, giving into my desires, letting go of my worries and only focusing on the one thing that mattered to me—Bane.

His hands ran over my stomach as I placed my hands on top of his. His touch was oddly soft and gentle for his callused and over sized hands, yet I could feel his dominance, I could sense the possessive thought behind his touch: that I was his and his only.

He turned me around so I could look into his eyes, his marvelous green eyes.

I felt a spark of sadness enter me as I remembered how his eyes hadn't always been green, how it was the constant feed of Venom that turned them a hazily green color; I felt sick at the idea of how such a vile substance could create such a beautiful thing.

I saw Bane's brow furrow at my sudden absent state of mind, but I quickly smiled and reassured him that I was with him, mentally and physically, by kissing the top of his neck.

As I kissed his neck, pressing my lips against his skin in a different area each time, I felt Bane's hands start to climb my back, but they stopped where my bra clasp was, and paused, unmoving, as if to ask if he could go on.

I wrapped my left hand around the other side of his neck, pressing my lips harder against his neck, telling Bane that he didn't have to ask permission to do as he pleased.

With ease he unclasped my bra and gently pushed each strap off of my shoulders.

I withdrew from him, lowing my arms but I could feel them tense up and try to cover my bare breasts once Bane finally removed my bra.

My eyes met his, slightly unwary and unsure. I had never been naked in front of another man before, this was a new level of intimacy that I wasn't sure Bane and I would ever get to and with new territory came new insecurities.

Bane just lightly smiled at me, his eyes soft and caring. His hands reached out and ran along my arms, and when he eventually reached my hands he pulled me against him. My arms naturally wrapped around his neck and his hands naturally settled on my hips.

Our eyes held the others, our bodies pressed together as we breathed in unison, taking in and accepting what would happen tonight if we continued.

We both paused, waiting and anticipating the other to stop our actions, to give in to our insecurities and cover up—yet neither of us made any motion to stop.

Suddenly, Bane picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I saw the smile in his eyes and I heard his slight chuckle as he reacted to my surprised look.

I simply smiled back and ran my hands along his face, my fingers trailing over both mask and flesh. Slowly, he bent over until my body softly landed on the bed.

Feeling his hand retract from the small of my back, I soon found myself laying on our bed, topless and being studied by Bane.

A slight rose color flooded my cheeks, it was common for him to stare and to watch, but this wasn't the same, it was special. For the first time in a while, I knew our minds were in sync; we didn't have to speak to know what the other was thinking.

Through simple glances, smiles or gestures, we both knew what we wanted, what we needed and what we desired. He looked at me now, with love and devotion, with this new-found softness and hunger, he was watching me for my beauty, and for the physical and mental charm I had on him.

I couldn't help but smile.

His familiar grumble erupted from him, sending chills all over my body. He leaned onto the bed, his torso towering over me. His hands grabbed my hips and pulled me across the bed so I was against him.

I felt his grip transfer onto my pants as he slowly pulled them off, not letting his eyes divert from mine.

In silence he undressed me and then he undressed himself, only leaving his briefs on as his hands ran up and down my bare legs, watching me intently the entire time.

Everything about this moment felt right, butterflies danced in my stomach and played with the fire that burned deep inside, I could feel my breaths quicken as I fought my insecurities, as I focused on Bane and let him control the situation.

/-/

Slowly he removed his briefs, revealing his erection. In some ways it was intimidating and in others it was enticing. "Relax." He demanded of me in a soft and hushed tone. Reluctantly I relaxed into the bed as I felt Bane enter me.

I twinged in pain at the beginning, but soon the pain resided and was replaced with pleasure. Moans started to escape my lips uncontrollably with Bane's oddly gentle and soft movements.

I started to moan for more, I knew Bane was holding back, that naturally he was a dominating man and was a very powerful specimen to add. Of course he would never use his full strength to do anything now, unless he wanted to harm someone, however I knew he was being passionate for me, he was being gentle for me.

His pace quickened at my request and I felt my body start to tense, my muscles started to ripple and contract as I felt explosion after explosion of pleasure release within me and travel through my body. My hands gripped the blankets, frantically trying to grasp something in my moments of rigidness.

Bane finally climaxed and soon after collapsed against me, his frame strategically placed so not all of his weight was against me, but enough to make it seem like he was resting against me.

/-/

We laid there in silence; all you could hear was the panting from our rapid breathing as we both relaxed against the other.

With a tired moan, Bane turned onto his back and I quickly moved in and hugged his body, molding mine to his. I felt him tug to get out but I was a rock—grounded and unmoving.

With a small chuckle, he relaxed into me and wrapped an arm around me, giving me his shoulder to rest my head against. Placing his mouthpiece against my forehead, I could barely hear him whisper 'I am forever yours'.

I smiled and kissed his neck. "And I am forever yours, to love and protect from what you deem worthy."

I heard him smile but as I rested my head against him and heard one last grumble ripple through his chest, I was asleep in his arms.

* * *

**Eek! So I hoped you like the chapter =X I am honestly really worried about releasing this and I do hope you all enjoy it, so let me know? Was the intimate scene too much? Did you like it? Just let me know because I swear I am going to have a self-induced panic attack soon. haha**

**I am thinking of doing part of the next chapter from Azriel's POV. What do you all think? Would you rather me explain what happened to him via dialogue or would you rather see it in story perspective? I would like to add that from his perspective, you get the whole truth since Azriel tends to have a good way with words, his dialogue may not always be truthful ;) Only little spoiler I will say. Muhahahaha**

**Talking about potential spoilers and such, to answer a lot of your questions: I do plan on bringing in the movie and it will be starting soon with Batman Begin's. Expect some of the movie plot to appear within the next few chapters, if not in 19 then definitely starting in 20. I see this story going till atleast Chapter 30, if not further and that's just depending on my major plot lines so yeah, sorry for the potentially very long story but it will be worth it all in the end :) I promise!**

**With that! Please, give me a review, favorite or follow if you haven't already and let me know if you are still enjoying the story after 18 chapters. Is there anything that you miss from the beginning that isn't present in current chapters? Stuff like that, I always like to hear from readers, I always like to know what you opinions on the story are; good or bad.**

**Much love!**

**Narrie**


	19. Author's Note

Hello everyone! I'm sorry if this got your hopes up for another chapter :( I want to write this author note chapter so you all know I haven't abandoned this story or writing at all, my life has just been kind of hectic as of late. I am currently transitioning to another job and with that comes stress, which always seems to give me writer's block.

I am still thinking about what the next chapter will be about and I know exactly how it's going to pan out, I just can't seem to put it on paper. But during my writer's block I always tend to think and plan out my stories, and I have been thinking a lot about the ending to this story and what certain aspects of Nolanverse could affect it. A lot of the main scenes in the movies fit well into my story however, the fact if Bane dies or not is a question for me, only because I think of this story as yours just as much as mine.

So, I'm stuck at a crossroad. I'm a fan of sticking to a story, if I'm staying Nolanverse, then Bane dies in his version of the Batman world. However, I know some readers have asked and hopes that Bane would survive, so I would like to know what you all think. Try to sway my decision or enforce it. Should Bane die or survive?

Hopefully my stress level should pacify within a week and I will fire a chapter or two out asap. I fell horrible it's been this long since an update and trust me, I feel so guilty because I don't do it because I want to and I don't want anyone to think that I am doing this on purpose. I want to finish this story, and I know I will, so stick with me, okay? :D

MUCHO LOVE!

Narrie


	20. Chapter 19

**HEY! So my writer's block went *poof* right after my A/N post xD Maybe it's my remedy! muhahaha. Anywho, I gift you a chapter that is much like a lead up to a longer and better chapter that I am already writing and will probably continue to work on after posting this. **

**I feel the love for this story coming back to that stages when I first wrote it only because I am finally at the part of the plot when it all starts to become exciting ;) But it also makes me want to thank those who still follow this story from the beginning to the readers who are just starting now, for reading and enjoying my story. It honestly means a lot to me and I can't express that enough! Especially because you deal with my mental writer's block moments :( That's true love, right there. =P**

**But anywho, I will not fuss anymore. Please enjoy this new chapter and thank you to my oh so lovely beta xXTron'sGirl13Xx for polishing this story with your magical ways :)  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Bane's Lullaby Ch 19

The days had past in a blur. Bane and I spent many hours resting and laying in bed, holding each other—or more.

Azzy had recovered quickly and had opted to take over the job of hunting soon after, stating he was 'strong enough to wrangle a bear to the ground with his bare hands, stark naked, if need be'.

None of us had heard back from home. Azzy and I both sent letters and never received anything back, so he decided that his time not spent on hunting, was spent taking watch, but for good measure.

This wasn't normal of the league to not get back to us, even if my father had put me in 'time out', and we both knew something wasn't right; we had to make sure we weren't in danger.

I woke up in the morning. It had been roughly 3 months since Bane and I had arrived to this cabin, it could have been longer for all I know, the day's went by so quickly and I barely remembered many of them specifically.

Nothing important ever happened outside of conversation with Bane and Azzy.

But I missed home; I was worried about my father and the reason, or reasons, for why he never replied to any of my multiple letters. I sighed and looked up at Bane's sleeping face and a smile spread across my lips; it amazed me how soft and gentle he looked when he slept.

I softly kissed his hand as I lifted his arm so I could sneak out of bed, giving him a longer period of time to sleep.

Grabbing some warm tea, which had been heated on the stove by Azzy throughout the night, I got ready to take over his watch shift.

He always stayed up during the night, which meant that Bane or I had to take over for him so he could sleep and hunt; which took roughly 8 hours. Luckily Azriel didn't require a lot of sleep and hunted fast.

"Morning." I greeted my friend with a smile and a cup of warm tea for him too. He happily accepted the tea and breathed in the steam as a smile appeared on his face.

"I would say this is a _good_ morning."

I smiled and he looked at me and let out a small laugh. "Enjoy your night with your romantic and hunky man?"

I glared at him and shook my head as I sat down next to him. I had gotten used to Azzy's slightly unorthodox questions, although I refused to grow accustom to his sometimes-vulgar comments.

However, at least my face didn't grow into a bright cherry color when I heard them now a days.

"Shut up." I paused throwing some snow at him, "And I enjoyed our night of _cuddling, _thank you very much." I said very matter-a-factly.

"And that was it, pervert." He pouted and quickly took a sip of his tea as a smile started to peak through his previous frown.

"That's a mean name." He said, in a childish and mocking tone, he knew I only called him names when I was annoyed with him and had nothing better to say.

"You've called me worse." I looked away from him, scanning our surroundings.

We were sitting on the highest point of the house on the roof, giving ourselves the best aerial view. I noticed a few animal footpaths in the untouched snow; some belonged to rabbits and others belonged to larger predators.

"True…"he said, after a moment of silence, but he still let his speech trail off.

After a while of the soft wind blowing in our ears, Azzy finally spoke up. "Do you think we'll ever get back home?" I looked back at him, confused by his question.

Azzy was serious at times, that wasn't what was getting to me, but the fact that this was the first time he had ever talked about getting home in a doubtful way, like he didn't believe it would happen; well that worried me immensely.

For all the years I had known Azriel, he had never given up on anything, and I honestly mean _anything_. He was a true fighter to the core; it's what made him such an amazing spy, an asset to the league and the best friend I could have ever had.

"Of course." I said, smiling, as he would have done for me if I asked the same question.

For the first time, he needed me to stay positive, to be happy and reinforce the fact that we will get home, because we had to—we would both be lost without it.

He nodded and smiled again. "Sounds good, I'm heading to bed. Love you."

"Love you too, freak." I smiled while he glowered at me. He opened his mouth to reply.

"Shut up and go to bed." His mouth closed with a quick snap, and moments after he smiled and got up to leave.

I sat in silence for hours, only hearing the odd sound come from the surrounding forest. It was calm and quiet and peaceful.

Sometimes I wondered if I really did want to go back home, I often weighed the pros and cons to going back.

My father would be there, Pro.

Bane would be a weapon again, Con.

I would be by my sister again, pro…and Con.

I would lose my newfound sense of freedom.

And that's always when the list stopped. My freedom, it was what was worth the most and the thing I couldn't have influence on changing.

I could try to persuade my father to not use Bane as a weapon, to treat him as any other regular member. With my sister, I could try to use the fact that I know why she has pretended to hate me this entire time, but I would be bound to the league the moment I went back.

Something told me that my life was meant for something out in this world, outside of my old home at the league, awaiting my arrival so I could receive a new meaning, my new purpose in life if you will.

Maybe this would be the day when I walked away from the league, and something about it felt okay.

Maybe Bane and Azriel would feel okay about it one day too…

"Rayna." I heard Bane call for me and I grinned. He obviously had awoken and wished to see me.

I crawled to the corner of the roof and peered my head over the ledge to meet Bane's face looking up at me. He had grown too massive for him to climb on the old wood roof; he would risk caving it in if he climbed onto it.

"You called?" I asked, smiling at him.

"Come down." He said but I shook my head.

"I'm sorry sir, but my office hours are closed until noon, when my replacement arrives. Until then, I will not be leaving this roof." I said somewhat mockingly

I could tell he was frowning, and I knew it was worse because he knew that I knew he could do nothing about the situation.

"Fine." He said gruffly and walked back into the cabin, the floor creaking under his heavy step.

Azzy already gave me enough of a bad wrap for constantly being distracted by Bane's presence, if he knew that I skipped out on watch to have Bane hug me, I would hear it for the next few days or more.

Hours passed and eventually Azzy climbed back onto the roof and sat next to me. I filled him in with all the stories of all that had happened (which had been nothing), gave him a kiss on the cheek and left the roof; leaving him to stand, or sit, and watch.

When I entered the cabin, I saw Bane sitting on the couch reading a book, but moments after I stepped into the living space he placed the book down.

"Hello." He said, causing me to smile.

"Office hours are done."

He stood up and gave a gruff moan as a response, his chest slightly rising as he walked closer to me. I could sense the smile on his face and then I looked at his remarkably greener eyes and saw them dancing,

I knew there was a grin present on his lips.

"Is that so?" He asked, his voice attempting to hide his amusement.

"Depends if you're nice." I smiled as he pulled me close to his chest, wrapping his arms around my torso in the process. I rested against him, sighing deeply.

In my solitude I had reflected a lot about the time we had spent here, in this cabin, and the events that happened prior to us getting here.

It was the first time I had thought of it since telling Bane to not ask about my worries until I was ready, and he did as I asked.

To this day, he had not even mentioned anything remotely related to the topic, he respected that I needed time to finally accept and become okay with explaining how my father revived and killed my mother within the same day for me; how I heard their tragic story and saw how poorly it affected my father, even till this day.

"I found my mother." I said, after spending moments trying to find a graceful way of bringing up the fact that I wanted to talk about something in the past—but I would never gain the talent of being graceful with words.

I felt Bane's muscles tense but he said nothing, he knew his actions would speak enough for him. I knew he was uneasy about the fact that I found my supposedly dead mother.

"I found out that she wanted to, and attempted to kill me; that she _hated_ me." I paused, Bane still unmoving.

"She was in the asylum…she looked so" I breathed trying to find the words to describe what I had seen, "so dead." I allowed myself a sad smile. "Oh the irony…"

"Did she harm you?" Bane finally asked after moments of silence, pulling away from me so he could look for non-existent signs that I had been harmed.

He had probably done as I did, when trying to bring up the subject, when he decided on what to say first; played around with different questions, tried to decipher how I felt about all of this and maybe even pondered over a few positive comments to say to me, to try and brighten my sullen mood.

But as I suspected, my safety trumped every other thought in his mind, no matter their importance. I simply shook my head, visioning my mothers' pale and dead blue eyes that were brightly framed by her unruly red hair, I felt my muscles twinge.

"Does your father know?" I let out a small laugh, responding to the irony of Bane's question.

"He put her there." I said almost laughing crazily.

"Does he know that you found her?" Bane asked quickly after I answered.

"I was furious with him, what do you think?" I heard Bane smile as I looked up at him.

He always liked to joke about my uncanny ability to release all my anger and rage at once. "It was the night you arrived in Gotham actually." I said, remembering the night clearer.

"My father told me their story, not in great detail but still, their story." I stopped to remember that night. It seemed so long ago; but my concept of time had been thrown off by being stuck in this place.

"She sounded lovely—and I kind of understand why my father has always told me that I remind him of her. I should have told you sooner, I'm sorry…it's just that it was—"

I had started to tear up and I broke my sentence to stop myself from crying. I didn't move, and neither did Bane for a moment, until he pulled me closer to his body and held me there, resting his mask on top of my head.

"It was hard. I can only try to understand, but do not apologize. You have done all that I would ever ask of you." I hummed against his skin, posing a question.

"Allowing me to help." He said calmly as he held me for a bit longer before pulling away from me.

He transferred his hands to my shoulders, gripping them well. "Rayna, these days in this cabin have brought you and I a lot closer than I had ever thought we would be allowed back at the league...and with that comes stronger feelings."

His eyes locked onto mine.

"I cannot even begin to explain how strongly I care for you Rayna, I cannot explain how I have changed over this short period of time, but I am happy and I know you are too." He paused, allowing his arms to drop.

I saw how they slightly fidgeted at his side, something I had never seen Bane do before.

"I have been thinking about it a lot lately, when you sleep or are on watch my mind is possessed with the idea of being here…of having a family."

I felt my heart skip, jump and then attempt to leap out of my chest; what was he trying to say? But the way Bane moved after his words made my mind shut off and my body turn rigid.

On one knee, Bane bent down in front of me, his face barely lower than mine.

"Rayna, I have no ring. I have no idea if I'm even doing this right. All I know is that I promise to protect you, to make you happy, to nurse you when your sick, to provide for you." He paused and I felt my chest start to restrict my breathing.

All thoughts escaped my mind as I focused on Bane.

"I promise to be yours and to never leave your side until the day I stop breathing." His words were sinking in, deeper and deeper with each breath, "All I want in life is you, and whatever comes after that doesn't matter to me."

He kept on, certain of his words, "I want you to be mine—my wife and the mother to my children. Will you?"

"Y-yes." I stuttered on my words, wanting to say them faster than I was able to. Never had I expected this, never had I thought of this being a possibility for Bane and I, never had I thought he would have wanted this.

To be officially tied to him was a breathtaking thought.

"Just like we rehearsed!" Azzy came bounding into the room.

"Congratulation's you two! I hope you know that because I had to explain to Bane how _one would_ propose, you have to name your first child after me."

I turned to look at Azriel. Seeing the smug grin on his face, my glance quickly turned into a glare.

"And just like that, you ruined the moment." He laughed.

"No I didn't." He said in a sassy tone. I looked back at Bane, who was still watching me, and I smiled.

"You're right. You didn't." I stepped towards Bane, who naturally opened his arms, awaiting my body to nuzzle against his. "So, you want children? I never thought you wanted them." I asked, looking up at him with child like eyes.

"I have no ailments or sentences that I could pass onto an offspring. That was always the only thing that would have stopped me from having a child. They would be happy here, I would think."

I smiled and placed my hands on Bane's cheeks and pulled his face closer to me, only to place a soft kiss against his mask. I saw the sparkle in his eyes as he straightened his torso, watching me keenly.

"They would." I paused a moment, to only touch on the idea of what it would be like to have a child out here, living with us. How it would feel to have Bane, the man I loved more than anything, as my husband and my children's father.

"So what now?" I asked, looking towards Azzy.

Bane and I were both clueless when it came to being engaged, being married, and everything else that encompassed going further than having a conversation with a loved one when it came to the development of relationships.

He just let out a loud laugh.

"Well, considering how often you two have '_alone time'_, the chances of bringing a bastard into this world is exponentially high." The grin on Azzy's face was very contagious.

"So plan a date, I can figure out how to marry you two and tada!"

Azzy wouldn't shut up now, "Bane, you have to find something that will represent a ring for Rayna... although, _technically_, Rayna should have an engagement ring and then you both put on wedding bands at the ceremony, but who cares! We aren't surrounded by society so we can make our own rules—"

"Azzy, slow down, I don't understand your rambling." I said, watching his over-exaggerated hand motions as I interrupted him.

"You two have to get married!" He yelled, raising his hands to his head, pressed them against his scalp and then pushed off, all the while giving me a dumbfounded look. "You can't be that thick, can you?"

I smiled.

"Azzy?" He turned to look at me, stopping his perfectly rehearsed pace around the room; he had probably been planning out the ceremony in his head already.

Now that his eyes were on me I repeated my original statement to him, "You're ruining it again."

With that Bane chuckled, and I knew things were going to be just fine, for me and my family.

* * *

**Allllright! Now before I get people going all "YO! Narrie! Why is Bane all OOC with proposing and stuff?" I would like to answer that now :) If you don't care to know or read this explanation I totally understand and you can skip this possible mini-rant of love. The reason why he proposes is not only is it adorable that he literally would most likely have no clue what to do when it came to proposing, but having their intense mental and intellectual relationship going in to that cabin, and then having the physical aspect of it introduced soon after they arrive at the cabin would make their attachment to each other grow at a faster and stronger rate. And then add the fact that they are cut off from society so time goes by a lot faster since nothing different really happens from day to day, only the interactions with each other, but even that will start to blur. They think it's been about 3 months, but that's Rayna just guessing, so it may seem fast in the progression of chapters, but it's been awhile for them and it's also been intense for them, and that kind of situation tends to grow stronger bonds, faster. Sorry for the long-winded answer but that is literally my thought process when making a decision like "Should Bane propose?" and I somehow decipher that after an hour of flip-flopping, however I stand by my decision. He proposed! teehee.**

**In all, I hope you enojyed the chapter! Azzy POV is coming up next :D Let me know what you think, please! Leave a review, PM me. However you want to do it, just tell me what you think :)  
**

**On that topic, to answer some of your questions about the fact that I asked you if you want Bane to live or die in the end and if i'm making my final decision now, the answer is no. Honestly, I'm not sure how I want to end it and that's why I'm asking for your opinion, however I will ultimately make the decision but late on in the story. HOWEVER, that does mean you can try to persuade me. A lot of you have made the great point that Nolan did leave it open ended. My friend read the comics, so I automatically saw him as dead, but ya. Right now, I'm leaning towards neither, I have decided to just think of endings for both options since that's the harder part usually.**

**ANYWAYS! Rant's over, I'm so sorry I'm so chatty this time. I just missed you all :( Thank you as always for reading my story, I hope I didn't waste your time and that you enjoyed it and maybe even squeeled a little bit, as us fangirls tend to do.  
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**Much love!  
**

**Narrie  
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	21. Chapter 20

**Sorry for the delay with getting this out, however I made sure to add a little extra at the end to make this chapter come out and finish with a punch; we are on chapter 20 after all ;)**

**So 20 chapter's in and still going strong. I honestly can't believe the following this story has, it's still hard to wrap my head around, and all of you are such amazing people! A big thank you to those who defending this story or sent me PM's expressing that a certain someone's review was a bit harsh, and on that note, I would like to say something to people who think I am butchering or destroying Bane and the Batman world.  
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**This fic is mostly based off of Christopher Nolan's world of Batman, more commonly known as Nolan-Verse. So that being said, he never gave Bane much of a background and this story is very much along the lines of, what would have happened if Bane was given the chance to love someone who wasn't Talia. That being said though, I'm still following the movie's plot lines, I don't intend on making him a soft and cuddly bunny type person, I know he is cold and harsh and has no attachment to the human life, but there is always an exception to the rule. Fanfiction is made so that Fan's of stories, or video games, or movies or whatever, can express or develop different sides to a pre-existing character, create a whole new chain of events or recreate the entire story from a different perspective. That is what FanFiction is, and this story is my version of what Bane's life would have been like if someone like Rayna was in his life early on, so if you don't like it, then you don't have to read it. But this is my story, and I like this Bane how he is, as do many others, obviously. I always appreciate feedback, but flames are not feedback or constructive criticism. A flame gives no help to a writer, only hinders their ability to write, so it's pointless and if that is your honest opinion, then keep it to yourself or tell me how you feel when you aren't logged in as a guest, so I can discuss and talk to you in a PM on why you think I'm 'ruining Bane', and I can then explain to you what I have just typed. Thank you.  
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**AND with that rant over, ENJOY THE CHAPTER :D  
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* * *

Bane's Lullaby Ch 20

"Deal's off." I said over the phone, my voice hushed even though I sat on top of the roof of our cabin, Bane and Rayna inside and most likely distracted by the other. Thankfully with them being newly engaged, it gave a proper distraction that allowed for this conversation.

"You can't back out of this Azriel. I saved your life."

"You also gave me false information. You said Bane took her captive, but I have never seen her this happy in her entire life. I won't take that away from her, even if that means neither her or I would be a part of it again." I heard my contact smile.

"How sentimental, but even at this point you wouldn't be able to be a part of the league anymore…it was destroyed last night."

"What?!" I exclaimed, my genuine shock bringing my volume to a shout. I couldn't believe it—they had to be wrong; nothing could ever destroy the league.

"A man by the name Bruce Wayne was seen bringing Ra's to the village after the explosion and then he left. I need Bane, Ra's needs Bane to fulfill his destiny, and so we can destroy Gotham." I shook my head.

"He exiled Bane. If he needed him then he never would have done that. It's you who's stressing his importance—and part of me wonders if it's more for business or pleasure."

"My father said he exiled him, but from my understanding, Ra's still keeps in contact with him. They're both so weak minded when it comes to Rayna, I always found it sad." I heard the sick and twisted hatred start to surface in Talia's voice.

When things didn't go according to her plans, she always let her true emotions slip past; it was her pattern.

If nothing else was distracting her, she could focus all of her mental power on concealing her true feelings, her true opinions of others and the fact that she hated everything that breathed unless it was herself or Bane; nobody else was worthy of her 'nice' side.

I always tried to make it so Ray saw it too, saw the deep seeded hatred, but she always refused—that was like Rayna though. She always ignored the bad and searched for the good, no matter how hard it was to find.

"So you lied to me to get me to track down Bane and Rayna, for what then? I won't bring them back, I won't let you rip them apart."

"We'll see Azriel. I will talk to you later and I do hope you change your mind by then." Talia disconnected the phone and I sat, unmoving, as I took in the threatening tone in her voice.

Part of me felt like running away in hopes it would save them, but part of me felt like if I stayed, than I could help keep them safe. The only thing that was certain was that I regretted my desperate decision to agree with Talia.

Sighing heavily, I curled my chest into my knees and closed my eyes, feeling the heaviness from the stress. I had to figure out what to do before mentioning any of this to Rayna or Bane, especially Bane.

* * *

"Azriel." Bane greeted me as I walked into the cabin to grab some tea. It took awhile for me to get used to his new size. It was incredible how his body worked with Venom, a mysteriously beautiful thing.

"Bane." I said, nodding towards him. "What brings you out of your bed and away from your fiancé?" I heard him give a gruff sound, obviously taking my sarcastic tone as a threat, but he always got that way when I said something about Rayna.

"You said I needed a ring, and I want to make one, but I need your help." I heard the floor creak under his heavy feet, slightly bending the wood beneath him. I turned around and leaned against the counter.

"Well you know what you have to do to get me to help." I said, giving him an obvious and over-exaggerated wink. I heard him give a sharp laugh and his hand reached out to me, and eventually gripped the back of my head. My body went stiff, what was he doing?

"Come." He said suddenly, as he pulled my head forward and slightly pushed me towards the door. I heard him chuckle at my obvious rigidness—he managed to unnerve me with one move and he obviously found it amusing. I smiled as Rayna's words ran through my head, as if responding to what happened.

'Bane! Be nice to Azzy, don't—' however…she may have not defended me since I did wink at him. A laugh escaped my lips as I stepped onto the porch.

Smiling, I breathed in the cold brisk air of the winter's night. "Alright, my man. What are you thinking in terms of a ring? You want to try to find scrap metal or something?" I took a few steps down the stairs leading off our porch, but stopped and looked back at Bane when I didn't hear him move with me.

"I want to carve it out of wood or stone, but up here wood would be easier to find than stone that is easily moldable." He let out a heavy sigh, almost motioning his agreement to his own decision. It was always an odd concept to think that a brute like him actually had a brain, and a highly functioning one to boot.

"Okay, so what do you need me to help with?" I asked, unsure what exactly it was that Bane wanted. I didn't know how to carve wood, and I definitely didn't know what kind of tree would be the best for making a ring.

"I used to carve a lot of stone when I was in that prison." Bane spoke with a darkness that he always had when talking about the cage that he grew up in. I never knew how to respond when he talked about it, to be honest, which was rare for me.

Nobody could really blame him for being so angry or closed-off though, or for having the potential of being borderline psychotic; it was a blessing that he wasn't like that already with everything he's gone through.

"I can teach you," he said, cutting off my train of thought, "but my hands are too big to put in the fine details, or carve the inside. That is what I need your help for." He started to walk down the stairs, having a certain determined look in his eyes.

"Okay, so then why am I coming with you to find the wood?" I asked, slightly annoyed. I wanted to have some tea, relax a little during the quiet night and then get back to doing watch.

It wasn't that I didn't like Bane, but being alone with him was always different than being around him with Rayna close by. He was always softer when he was around her.

I felt a hand grip the back of my jacket and effortlessly pick me up, off the ground, and gently place me in the shin deep snow. "I want the company." Bane said with a cheeky smile, which happened to be conveniently hidden by his mask.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice." I said, recovering from the fact that I felt insignificant next to Bane, his physical threat apparent to me. His strength was overwhelming and I couldn't help but study his muscles as he moved through the snow, or more like plowed through it.

I followed him quietly at first, my mind fixated on how effortlessly Bane moved through the thick snow, leaving a perfect trail in his wake, his body forcing the snow aside, like it had no chance at opposing his stride.

"Did I frighten you that much?" Bane asked, his voice breaking me from my previous concentration. Something about his voice didn't seem right, there wasn't a lingering threat or a hint of anger, however I couldn't quite put my finger on what drove this foreign tone to his robotic voice.

I let out a heavy sigh as my mind struggled over the idea of lying to Bane or telling him the truth.

"To be honest, ever since your episode at the league, your physical presence is easily noticed. You…can be intimidating at times." I breathed in as Bane stopped moving.

By this point we had walked pretty far into the forrest. Bane had periodically snapped a branch off of a tree, examined it and then tossed it away, all while keeping a steady and fast pace.

"It's hard to not become what everyone thinks you were made to be. They put that expectation on you and won't believe your something else, even if you are. They always think your hiding it." I said nothing, my own guilt keeping me quiet.

"But then again, those who seek evil in others usually have the bigger demon." He turned to look at me, danger in his eyes.

"Azriel, what demon's are you hiding from us?" He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a heavy sigh, his eyes never leaving mine. I felt my heart beat against my chest; I was scared.

"There has been something about your presence here, since day one, that I have questioned. Why have you not told us how you got here?" He paused, giving the proper amount of time to further intimidate me.

His eyes were cold and distant, the same darkness that I had seen in him the day he nearly killed one of his league brothers, brewed within. But Rayna's love protected me, I knew that much. As long as I chose my words wisely with Bane when I explained everything, he wouldn't kill me.

"You're a smart man, a brilliant con artist and sadly Rayna can be easy to trick with your game of smoke and mirrors, but I am not that easy." He took a step forward, the crunching of the snow setting my skin on edge; it too easily reminded me how quickly Bane could crush my bones. He stopped, a foot away from my slightly trembling body.

I couldn't take it anymore, the guilt had been eating away at me, for too long I played out my days in wonderful and ignorant bliss, hoping that my past would never come back to haunt me.

I didn't want to get them in trouble, and I didn't want to harm them, I just wanted to be by the one person who wouldn't make me feel so alone in this world.

"So you better explain to me now." His words tore me away from my thoughts; my body trembling further—something about right now didn't feel right. "Why do I suddenly scare you more than before, Azriel? What do you not want me to know?."

"I—" I stumbled over my words, unsure of how to respond. I was frightened for my life and theirs. This was my chance to explain before anything else could go wrong; god knew what lengths Talia would go to get Bane within her grasp and away from Rayna.

"I was lost, hungry, and dying. She saved me, and I owed her a debt, but what she asked of me wasn't fair!" I exclaimed, scared that Bane had already connected the dots, but he stood still and unmoving, his eyes watching as I slowly got more desperate for his sympathy.

"She said that you took Rayna captive and against her will. That you stole her from Ra's and brought her to some rural area. She said that if I brought Rayna back to the league and gave you to her, that I could go home again. That Ra's would lift the excommunication off of my name—I could go home." Tears started to roll down my face silently as I saw Bane's jaw clench and his eyes became harder and more fixed on me.

We stood in silence, but I could take it no longer. I covered my face with my hands, not able to take the guilt anymore, knowing that my actions threatened Rayna and him. I was weak; I gave into Talia, of all people, and risked their lives. I heard Bane give a heavy sigh, and then the crunch of the snow as he stepped closer to me.

Crunch, Crunch.

The last sounds I would surely hear before he crushes me with his hands, before he breaks me for threatening the safety of his beloved Rayna, of my sweet Rayna. I jumped as Bane's hand rested on my right shoulder.

"Talia." He said, with another heavy sigh. "She is relentless when it comes to things she wants. I am sorry she used you like that Azriel, do not let it haunt you anymore. She will not find us up here." I looked up at him, letting my hands fall to my side.

Was he being kind to me? Offering me kind words to soften the blow to my guilt? I smiled, knowing how hard it must have been for him to put his anger aside to allow such speech.

"Thank you Bane. I know we can protect—"

* * *

I watched Azriel with unnerved eyes. I should kill him and move Rayna, it would be the only way to get away from Talia, yet something in the way he pleaded, in the desperate way he looked at me, I knew he was telling the truth and that he never meant for this to happen.

Talia was an evil woman, she stopped at nothing until she got what she wanted, destroying everything in her path if necessary. She deceived and corrupted others into doing her bidding—somehow she always found leverage on them.

I let out a sigh, pushing away the anger I felt towards Azriel and thought of Rayna, thought of what she would say. 'He didn't mean it Bane, you couldn't blame him…its Azzy.'

I could picture her eyes start to water at the idea of her friend leaving this world, and I knew that I couldn't be the one to do it. She would never forgive me, and it wasn't his fault.

He was simply manipulated when he was in a desperate state, he had no way of backing out without accepting death, and as noble of a league member Azzy was, he never had to accept the fact that there could have been someone out there who could kill him, until it came to me.

Besides me, or Ra's, there were few who could match his skills. However, being unpracticed and unnerved, he would stand no chance against me at this point. I watched as his body trembled in front of me; he was terrified of my wrath.

I walked forward, towards him, and gently placed my right hand on his shoulder, feeling him jump under my touch. "Talia." I said, letting out another heavy sigh as I thought of the twisted past and relationship her and I shared. "She is relentless when it comes to things she wants. I am sorry she used you like that Azriel, do not let it haunt you anymore. She will not find us up here."

Azriel looked up to me, shock covering his face. He didn't understand my kindness; it was probably one of the few times in my life that I easily pushed aside my anger.

It was an odd feeling to have these days, anger. The adrenaline was addicting, but my life didn't have an agenda for it, no reason to feel it, so it was rare emotion that I engaged in, which made it all the more easier to ignore.

He simply smiled. "Thank you Bane. I know we can protect—"

Red spread across the perfectly white snow as Azriel's smile disappeared from his face, and his lifeless body fell to the ground, a bullet lodged within his brain. There was no time to react; I needed to get to Rayna right away.

Talia had found us.

* * *

I awoke, stretching my body over the entire bed, expecting to collide with Bane at some point, but finding my body had no restrictions. Lifting my head from the pillow, I saw the bed was empty.

I entered the living room, expecting to see either Bane or Azriel, but when I saw neither, I felt panic set in.

Opening the door, I looked on the porch to see Azriel's mug sitting on the table. I accepted the fact that they must have left for a walk, but that's when my eyes fell onto their tracks and I could see the thick layer of freshly fallen snow; they had been gone too long. Closing the door, I rushed back inside and started to get dressed for the outdoors—I had to go find them.

Finally dressed, I grabbed the emergency bag that we kept ready at all times, just incase. Going outside once more, I called out Bane and Azriel's name, listening intently as my voice carried over the empty land.

"Rayna!" I heard Bane call from the distance. I nearly bounded off of the porch and briskly walked towards his voice. He appeared in the clearing, his chest frantically rising, but there was no Azriel. Where was Azzy? I felt my heart race. Where was my friend?

Before I could ask any questions, I saw men appear in the clearing around the cabin, wearing army vests and mercenary-type clothes. I saw the type of uniforms around the league a lot as mission clothes or under-cover uniforms.

"Run!" I heard Bane yell but my body didn't respond, as I stood, motionless. How were there people here, why were there people here…and where was Azzy?

"Rayna! RUN!" I heard Bane yell again, and I looked at him as he started to charge at the armed men.

"BANE!" I yelled, starting to move towards him but he just started to run faster.

"DAMNIT RAYNA! RUN!" He yelled with all his fury one last time before he tackled one of the men, got up with ungodly speed, just to pick up another and throw him against a tree, obviously knocking the man unconscious.

My body took over, disregarding my fright for Bane's life, and I turned and ran, not caring what direction, or where to. I just did as he commanded, and ran.

Tree's whipped past me as I bolted through the forrest, hearing the sound of men following me.

The weight of my emergency kit slowed me down slightly, but their weapons would slow them down more. Darting through thicker trees, I could tell I was winning ground on them; their sounds were slowly drowning out into the distance.

Suddenly, something caught my foot and I fell down, knocking the wind out of my lungs. Rolling around in shock and agony, I focused on breathing past the sharp pain as tears started to roll down my cheeks. I needed to get up; I had to continue to run.

Reluctantly standing up, I looked down at what caused me to trip and I felt my world stop. My eyes landed on Azriel's face, a hole in his head and his skin slightly blue. I felt the sadness and panic leave me as I let my emergency kit fall to my side, as I stared at my dead best friend.

They did this to him…and they would pay for it. Dropping to the ground, I started to rummage through the kit, feeling my newfound anger burn deep in my stomach.

Wrapping my grip around the handgun, I pulled it out and started to walk towards the cabin. I slowly and carefully placed my feet in my old tracks, making sure I was as quiet as possible, my white clothes not giving away my location immediately; I knew I would see them coming first.

One dark spot out in the distance marked where they were, I let loose a bullet and saw him fall. Quickly another left my barrel and then a third, causing my pursuers to drop dead in their tracks.

I walked back over to Azriel, knowing I could do nothing. I grabbed the tarp that was in the emergency kit, unfolded it partially and placed it over my friend.

"Good bye Azriel. My dear friend." I spoke softly as tears stung my eyes. "I will never forget your kindness and you will forever follow me in my heart. Just promise to watch over me with kind eyes and your forgiving smile." I turned away and started to walk towards the cabin.

I was done with being afraid; whoever did this to us would pay by my judgment.

I walked back into the clearing, praying to see Bane, sitting on the porch waiting for me to come home, hoping that he would be okay, but as I assumed, my wishes were not granted.

Talia stood in the middle of the open area, four of her men standing behind her. "Hello, my sister. I see you were stupid enough to return, as I predicted." I felt my heart twist and shatter as the situation that lay before my eyes forced the realization upon me that she was behind this.

"But father said—"

"Father would believe anything when it came to you." I heard the bite behind her voice, the lingering threat that she spoke with when it came to the sibling rivalry between us.

"He never understood, father. He never understood why I could never love you, why I always hated you." A smile broke her jagged and harsh face; it didn't look right. "Your mother was right to hate you, though; it was the one thing she did right." She played with the knife in her hands as she spoke, watching it as the sun shined off the metal.

"Why?" I asked, not knowing what else to say. "Why kill Azzy?! Why take Bane? Why go to this length to do all of this? If you had told me…if I would have known this is what you would have done, I would have left. I would have run from it all, from that entire life. Why did you let it come to this?" My voice was but a whisper, barely traveling across the open space.

My body wouldn't allow me to move, I stood, motionless and unable to think of the reason, the logic, behind my sister's moves. It was purely vengeful, this was all done with malicious intent—she never meant for it any other way.

"My entire life, I have done nothing but love you." I spoke softly, feeling my anger rise within. "_MY ENTIRE LIFE_," I screamed, "you have hated me, tortured me, and made me feel like I was living in _hell._"

"Why can you not accept the fact that I deserve love? That I deserve happiness and that it isn't my fault that you deny that from yourself! It's your _own damn _fault you hate this world Talia!" My breath created a fog in front of my eyes; my chest was rising quickly as I paused from my rant.

Slowing my breathing, I focused on calming down before I spoke again."…And if it isn't your fault, then it definitely isn't mine."

"Why do all of this, Talia? Don't you ever get tired of it all?" She simply smiled and signaled her men to raise their guns to me. Slowly, she moved towards me, through the snow, the smile still painted on her perfectly poised expression.

"Because, my lovely sister, nobody deserves to be happy, especially you. Everyone thinks you are perfect, they think you are pure and pretty and what this world needs more of. They don't see you for the weak, feeble, mis-guided and gullible twit that I know you to be."

"Somehow, you enchant people with your kindness, with your likeability, and you trick them into loving you." She stopped before me; anger causing my body to shake. It took the fact that I had four armed guards pointing guns at me to stop me from jumping my sister right now.

I couldn't take her anger anymore; I couldn't take the constant fighting and me constantly pacifying my own distress in hopes that it would get better. It never would, not only did Talia hate me, but the feeling had finally become reciprocated.

I raised my weapon, so it was inches from her face. I heard her men ready their guns, but she simply raised her hand, signaling them to stand down. I watched as her eyes smiled back at mine, a grin appearing on her face.

"You try to make me believe that you can kill me now, because you finally found some courage?" She laughed. "I know you could never pull that trigger, Rayna." She leaned in, pressing her forehead against my gun, her eyes still locked on mine. "Do it, if you can stomach killing your own sister."

"You aren't my sister." I said, through gritted teeth as she straightened her posture and placed her hands behind her back, a blank stare peering at me.

"Suddenly you stop trying to love me? After everything I had done to you, it took me taking Azriel and Bane from you to truly hate me?" I saw a smile momentarily replace her frown.

"I question your strength of spirit, sister. I expected you to pretend there was compassion between us for the rest of your pitiful life; which luckily won't be long…" I saw the smile peak back in the corner of her closed mouth, she was too happy at this moment.

"Unless you pull the trigger." I heard the threat behind her voice, I saw the daring look in her eyes, but what would I become if I did this.

Even though I hated her, even though the thought of her being my same blood disgusted me, I couldn't find the reason for her to die. I couldn't become her and kill without reasons; I wasn't a murderer.

Slowly, I lowered my gun and closed my eyes as I cursed the fact that my overly courageous and angry self thought I would even do it in the first place.

* * *

I woke up, sitting against a metal frame, in a moving vehicle of sorts. Even though my eyes were open, all I saw was black; a bag had been placed over my head.

I started to move my hands to try and feel how tight the bonds on my wrists were, but I stopped moving when I heard a man's voice.

"She's awake." One said.

"What do you want me to do? I'm driving." The other replied in an annoyed tone. I could already tell by how they both spoke that one was obviously more intelligent than the other. I felt a fat finger poke me.

"You awake?" It was the stupid one.

"Yes, don't poke me! Where are you taking me? Who are you?" I tried to keep my voice level, and thankfully succeeded.

"Well I'm Ga—"

"Idiot! Don't tell her who we are." The driver said, cutting off his goon.

"Well she's gonna have to find out eventually. Might as well tell her now, what harm will it do. We have to take care of her, we might as well be nice." Hmn, sympathy from a stranger who was hired by Talia, the last thing I was expecting.

"I'm Gart, and this here is Blaze." I could hear the smile behind his voice, but I didn't care. I wanted to know where I was going and I wanted this stupid bag off my head.

"Okay, well hello Gart, I'm Rayna." I smiled but it quickly turned to a frown when I remembered that I had a bag that blocked my face.

"Gart, would you be kind and remove this bag from my head and tell me where we're heading? There isn't really a use for it; I have no need to fight. I would be lost outside of this vehicle, since I have no clue where we are and how we got here." I heard the man's hearty chuckle.

"We will arrive soon enough, Miss Rayna. We're already home."

"And where's home?!" I pressed, a notable amount of frustration behind my voice.

"Gotham."

* * *

**DUN DUn Dunnnnnnnnnnn! Rayna's Gotham bound, and without Bane. What will happen to Bane? Why is Rayna being taken to Gotham? What does Talia have in store for her? And who exactly are the mysterious Gart and Blaze?**** TUNE IN NEXT TIME TO "BANE'S LULLABY! CHAPTER 21".  
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**Sorry, felt like doing that. But honestly, what did you think? I honestly cried when I wrote Rayna saying goodbye to Azriel, so I accept the fact if you hate me for killing him off, I hate myself too, but we can always blame Talia. YAY TALIA IS EVIL AGAIN! Well, she always was, but I hated having to pretend she was nice =P  
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**And as always, thank you thank you thank you for sticking with me through 20 chapters. I cherish you all as readers and I always look forward to hearing what you though, good reactions or bad, about the chapter :)  
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**Love love!  
**

**Narrie  
**


	22. Chapter 21

**So happy I can post this. I'm sorry for the wait, writer's block tortured me relentlessly. However, alas! The chapter is out and I shall not make you wait any longer! Please let me know what you think, where you think the story is going or if you like where it's leading ;) I always love hearing from everyone!**

**Enjoy!  
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* * *

Chapter 21

We lived in a dump.

It was in a dingy part of Gotham that looked like a big breeze could break down its rusting frame. The streets smelled like sewage and desperation.

I could only understand now, why my father could hate a city that was like this, the only reason I would care for it to go is because it would end my misery.

I felt empty without Bane; having him ripped away from me like that…I had felt no greater loss. There was an empty place inside of me, but it wasn't a growing agitating feeling—it was just vacant. 'I missed him', couldn't even start to describe the emotion I felt, the bleakness that occupied me and the absence of the care

I used to generally have.

I didn't bathe, didn't brush my hair either really, unless Gart thought it got too knotty and decided to play doll with me.

I didn't even care that he occasionally looked at me with stupid, lustful eyes. I could snap his neck before he touched me, but sadly, he was thick enough to think I wouldn't be able to defend myself against his, most likely, fumbling attempt.

Boy was he wrong.

My life was over. I had been like this for a month and nothing had changed, neither Blaze nor Gart had any information, or at least anything that they were willing to spare despite my obvious attempts to pry it from their lips.

Blaze thought I was a no good witty spy turned rogue, that's why 'his boss' wanted me captive and under constant surveillance.

"Boss doesn't want you getting away, now does they?" He asked me once when I tried to get an answer as to why they kept me without chains, free to roam the house and do as I please, so long as I didn't exit the front door of the apartment.

"They gonna' make sure that you has a comfortable place to stay, that way you don't wanna leave."

He always gave me a sleazy smile, as if always dreaming or thinking of something else when looking at me, I paid no attention to it.

Never had.

The moment I woke up in that van, I knew it was over.

Bane was out of my reach; Talia had him and hired these men to keep me here—even though they never confirmed the identity of their boss. Azriel is dead, at Talia's hand, and she is god knows where, with Bane.

It was over; she had won.

There was nobody left in my life that knows about me, or who cares about me.

The only part about this life that made me feel a sense of guilt was the fact that I so easily justified, killing these men so I could escape, just so I could die within a few months or lower my standards to selling my body to survive.

I hated being here. It was a constant reminder of what I used to have…who I used to have.

The only place I could go was the institute, but I doubt Crane remembers me, and my mother would be useless to talk to.

I just hated how I was turning into a spiteful person because of all of this, and that thought always leads me to the worst one.

If I'm like this, I can only imagine how much worse Bane is.

I felt my body shutter at the idea, I couldn't think like that. That was the only negative thought I would never allow myself, the only self-will I retained was to never think ill of Bane, my—

And then my train of thought was cut off by Blaze throwing the phone against the wall, causing it to burst.

He had my attention now.

"Fuck this shit!" He yelled, stomping the ground. Gart hurried to be beside him, he huddled towards Blaze's lips, but his efforts were appreciated with a large smack against the head.

"Idiot! No use keeping fucking secret's anymore! They planned for us to die here! Ra's Al Ghul," he mocked my father's name, "has deemed Gotham _worthy_ of being fucking blown to shit! I'm sorry, but I aints dying because Ra's has some grudge against the 'prince of Gotham'," he mocked that name too,

"because he blew up his precious league, but you's on your own. I'm fucking leaving."

I felt my body go into shock.

The prince of Gotham…destroyed the league?

Who was this prince to think he could spread such slanderous lies.

Nothing could defeat the league of shadows, and nothing could ever defeat my father. I couldn't believe it at all, I wouldn't allow the thought to enter my mind. The league would never die.

Blaze stormed past Gart and simply grabbed his jacket, his car keys and left the room. Gart glanced at me and caught my attention, and I stared back at him—I knew this was my chance, I could leave, I could run.

Gart's eye's shifted and I booked it for the door, lighter and more agile then him, I reached the doorknob before he barely started to move.

Down the hall I ran, like a crazy lady in pajama's, a bathrobe and slippers, my hair a rat's nest and my face and body not washed for days.

For the first time in a month, I felt the spark of life, that sensation of caring, of believing—of hope.

I heard Gart call for me from the top of the stairwell, but I was already at the bottom. Out the exit door I leapt and entered the dingy streets.

I was under cover; I was hidden within the crowd and safe for now. I let myself sigh with relief, somehow the air smelt better down here.

But where do I go now? I had nowhere to go, to call home, but I had the energy to search for one.

I had been cooped up in a small apartment with two disgusting men, it was safe to say I didn't do much or move much.

The Asylum; it was a reluctant, but only choice I had. I walked aimlessly through the city, not knowing where my destination was according to my location. But eventually I started to finally recognize part of the city from my first visit; it was times like these that I was thankful for my superb memory and general curiosity.

I placed my hands in my pockets, wanting to warm them, but my fingers met an obscure object. I brought it out of my pocket and looked at it. A simple metal box, with a simple button on the top, but I had never seen anything like it.

Logically I came to the conclusion that I must have grabbed Blaze's housecoat, and he always kept his lighters in his pockets, so it must just be some special lighter of sorts.

A fire would feel nice, even if it were just for the tips of my fingers.

I quickly gathered paper that was lying on the ground and brought it to a corner where I could light it and huddle over it for a moment before continuing my journey.

Placing the box in my hand, I tried to press down the button, but it was slightly jammed.

I quickly grabbed it with both hands and placed both of my thumbs on the button and proceeded to press with all of my might.

The button went loose and suddenly a mist-like substance sprayed from the box and into my face.

I dropped the object as I felt a disturbing amount of fear settle in.

* * *

"Good morning." An elderly man greeted me. I looked around; I didn't recognize any part of this room I was in. I didn't recognize the man talking to me; I didn't remember how I got here.

"You were quite a mess when Master Wayne found you." He said with a small smile.

I watched him curiously as he placed a tray beside me. He caught my confused look and gave me one in return.

"Do you not remember getting here, miss?" Did I? I tried to think, but nothing came.

Nothing at all.

"Miss?" He asked, more concern in his voice.

I shook my head. "The last thing I remember is being told a 'Prince of Gotham' destroyed my home, then I remember running, and panic and then just blinding fear."

I looked up at the elderly man, his sad eyes catching mine. Something I had said upset him or concerned him; I just wasn't sure which.

"Where are you from, if I may ask?" He was polite, I give him that, but it wouldn't fool me—I never trusted anyone anymore.

"Nowhere you would know of. Definitely not from Gotham, I would be ashamed to call this place my home." He opened his mouth and then closed it.

"Very well, miss. Please enjoy your food; I will be back to collect your tray later." He smiled, and left the room.

Part of me felt bad for being rude to him, my distaste for this city obviously affecting my ability to be sensitive, but I think the city just caused that change.

Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed the tray and started to eat my food. It was the best thing I had eaten in a long time, I practically inhaled it. Finishing my glass of orange juice, I put the cup on the tray and placed it back on the nightstand.

I tried to go back to sleep, the bed was comfy enough, but I needed to know where I was.

Throwing the covers off, I stood up and stretched.

"Good to see your feeling better already." A young man's voice came from behind me. I quickly turned around to look at a tall, dark haired and fair-featured man.

He grinned at me, but my face stayed vacant of any emotion. "You gave my butler quite the rude answer, so he tells me."

"Doesn't it go against the policy of a butler for them to have rude opinions of people and to accept rude comments with a smile and easily forget them?"

There was a large amount of bitterness in my tone; maybe too much to the person who had saved me…he did save me…

Reluctantly, I relaxed my frame and let a little emotion into my features. I noticed him laugh. "Alfred isn't accustomed to a family like that." He simply said.

"Who are you?" I said, impatient and not caring to hear what type of family this man had. I didn't want to hear about anyone's family.

"Why am I here and how did you find me?"

"You were walking in an alley, screaming. Your voice traveled far enough that I heard it from the inside of my car on the way home. I thought you were being pursued, but when I found you, you were terrified of everything, or so it seemed." He paused, looking at me with slight concern.

"You were intoxicated with a fear inducing toxin. I gave you the cure though, so you'll never be affected by it again."

"You still haven't told me who you are." I said, my voice more stern. Something about him told me not to trust him, like he had done something to hurt me in the past.

"My name is Bruce." He said, walking forward and extending a hand. "Yours?" I crossed my arms, burying my hands.

"Rayna." I said, keeping my distance.

* * *

"I am sorry Bane, but you must understand—"

I lunged at her, but my chains restricted me. "I want to see Rayna." I demanded, glaring Talia down.

She raised her hands in surrender and I relaxed slightly, watching her every move. Her eyes quickly glanced to the ground while she licked her lips, her eyes were soft when they finally met mine, a simple shimmer to them.

"You will learn to love me Bane." She paused, her voice daring me to fight that fact. I just kept silent; I wanted to see what she had to say.

"When the day comes that you no longer care about seeing Rayna, about her existence, then will I tell you where she is."

"That will never happen." I said, even more threatening. "My mask circulates Venom through the air I breathe. When it runs out, I will go into withdrawal and you risk the chance of me dying. That will happen sooner than the day when I forget Rayna and love you."

I saw Talia set her jaw, I knew it was a factor she forgot about, but then she smiled. Momentarily I forgot how cunning she could be, how naturally deceptive she was.

"You will learn to love me, because remember this Bane, if you die, Rayna dies."

With that she turned and left me alone with my thoughts.

I would find my Rayna, alive.

Whether Talia was living, or dead.

* * *

**BAM! How do you like dem apples? Oh jeez, in a silly mood. Anywho, void my crazy talk, what did ya think? I hope you all liked it and hopefully I should get another chapter up in a week. I'm setting a more realistic goal for myself so i don't feel so guilty not having a story out every 3 days or so. :D It will make it more consistent, trust me :)**

**Hope you are all doing well and thank you again for your constant support and kindness!  
**

**Love you all!  
**

**-Narrie  
**


	23. Author's Note 2

Hey everyone!

Okay, so long time no update. I know, I kinda took an impromptu writing hiatus cause of the holiday stress BUT it actually turned out to be a good thing because my love for this story has been rekindled and I'm ready to update!

But-there's always a but, right?-I've come to the point where I'm not happy with where the story has ended up (That doesn't mean I'm going to stop this story! Keep on reading, don't rage on me yet). You see, the issue with writing a chapter at a time and posting a chapter at a time is that the continuity can be messed up and things that happen in previous chapters are forgotten and such. I feel that I forced some of the latest chapters and they haven't done this story justice, so...I have decided to re-edit the story in it's length. I plan to cut some things out, elaborate more on others, I also want to pace some things out more, and I will also be fixing the time-line. I have some planning to do, but I will be focusing my writing time on doing this.

However, I know me doing this will probably be annoying to some, I really hope it isn't and that you understand why I'm doing this, but I know that isn't always the case. So, that being said, I want to take this time for you to tell me, in a review or PM, what you think could or should be added, changed or taken out. Things you think were odd or off or whatever, I would like to know and will be taking all feedback into consideration :) Also, if you think this is a complete rubbish idea, I do sincerely apologize, but I know the story will benefit from this, I pinky swear it. I will soon update this story right before I start re-posting chapters!

Talk soon and thank you for your amazing amount of patience with me. Trust me when I say that if I could, I would have written and completed this story for all of you a long time ago. So keep with me until I do, because I promised myself and all of you that there will be an end to this adventure!

Much love!

Narrie


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